Some local Jewish residents have compalined
about the behavior of students off campus.

LOCAL NEWS

BC parties
present
problems
on Shabbat
Noise problematic
for Jews on sabbath
BY DANIEL TONKOVICH
For The Heights

For Rabbi Theodore Schneider, a
leader at Temple B’nai Moshe near
Cleveland Circle, Friday evenings are
time to spend in prayer and with family.
For Boston College students residing
off-campus, however, they are are a time
to head to parties.
The neighborhoods surrounding
BC are home to many of the Jewish
faith. According to a 2006 study by the
Mandell L. Berman Institute of Center
for Judaic Studies and Contemporary
Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut, the Jewish community of the
Boston area in 2005 included 208,500
persons in 105,500 Jewish households,
accounting for 7.2 percent of the area’s
total population. Approximately half of
the Jewish population in the Boston area
resides in the cities and neighborhoods
surrounding BC’s main campus, such as
Newton, Brookline, and Brighton.
With the high Jewish population in
neighborhoods where many BC students
also reside, a problem can result when
off-campus student parties interfere
with neighbors of the Jewish faith
observing their Shabbat traditions on
Friday evenings through Saturday, as
placing a phone call to local authorities
is seen as violating restrictions on work
imposed by the faith on Shabbat.

Asst. News Editor

Assoc. News Editor

Editor’s Note: The following is the third and
ﬁnal part in a three-part series on the issue
of sexual assault on campus.

See Splash, A4

CECILIA PROVVEDINI / HEIGHTS STAFF

BC Splash, a program that brings high school students to BC to take classes taught by undergraduates, seeks to become a BC tradition.

This past Saturday, Boston
College hosted more than 170 high
school students for the University’s inaugural Splash event.
BC Splash, which gives local
high school students the opportunity to take classes taught by
college undergraduates, is modeled off similar programs at MIT,
Stanford, and the University of
Chicago.
“It’s a short list, but they’re
all prestigious schools, and it’s
great that BC is now a part of this
list,” said Hanyin Cheng, a Splash
organizer and A&S ’12.
MIT was helpful in the launching of BC’s Splash program, organizers said. “The MIT Splash
program allowed us to use their
listserv of 20,000 high school
students,” said Lisa Piccirillo, a
Splash organizer and A&S ’13.
“They are happy to see the pro-

Last night, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC)
Senate unanimously passed a resolution
in support of a campaign that aims to
spread awareness regarding sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) and testing
on campus.
According to the resolution, the
UGBC Senate will promote, “the health
of the student body through a three-day
campaign to encourage students to utilize the STI testing services available at
University Health Services.”
The resolution can be broken down
into three main goals, said Nick Domino,
A&S ’12. “STI testing is a taboo subject.
This campaign would make it more acceptable, make students more responsible to their community, and continues
the spirit of Love Your Body Week,” he
said.
The resolution attempts to foster acceptance and encourage the use of STI
testing by breaking down the stigma that
surrounds testing at BC. “This is a campaign that will be a catalyst to promote
a culture of STI testing,” said Caitlin
Hanley, co-sponsor of the resolution
and A&S ’11.
Lizzie Jekanowski, A&S ’13, who also
co-sponsored the resolution, agreed to its
importance as a means of changing the
negative connotations associated with
STI testing.
“There is very little testing on campus,” she said. “Students don’t know
about STI testing. We support a campus-wide campaign that would raise
awareness and make it [STI testing] more
acceptable.”
The resolution appeals to students
to take responsibility for their health.
According to the legislation, “It is the
responsible action of students as members of a community and in relation-

ships to be aware of the details of his
or her health, speciﬁcally in terms of
the underutilized opportunity to get
tested for STIs, and the responsibility
of the community to make its members
aware of and provide access to these
opportunities.”
In part, this resolution was passed in
order to promote the values and issues
connected to Love Your Body Week,
sponsored annually by the Women’s
Resource Center, members of the
UGBC Senate said. “This campaign
would promote a positive body image,
and is a nice continuation of Love Your
Body Week,” Hanley said.

In the 2009-10 academic year, just one
sexual assault case was brought before a
Boston College conduct hearing, despite
the fact that there were at least nine reported sexual assaults last year.
For students who are victims of sexual
assaults and who are seeking retributive
action against their assailant, the University conduct system, called the Administrative Hearing Board, is an alternative
to pressing charges and seeing the case
through to court.
Despite the availability of a campus
disciplinary body, Sheila Horton, dean
for student development, said that sexual
assault victims rarely choose that route,
despite the informal nature of the proceedings relative to legal cases. Thus far,
no sexual assault cases have been brought
before the board.
“Very few students choose to actually
adjudicate the cases,” Horton said. “We
encourage students to move forward within
their comfort level.”
As of this year, each board is composed
of three administrators, one faculty member, and one student, who are all selected
from a general pool. In previous years,
each board was only composed of three
administrators, but following a 2009 review of the University’s conduct process
by a committee of faculty and students,
the board was expanded.
“The committee also looked at conduct
systems at other universities,” Horton said,
adding that the conclusion was that additional voices would strengthen the board.
“This year we’re trying it out.”
The Administrative Hearing Board
typically handles the more serious disputes between students, including sexual
assaults and “those cases that rise to the
level of severity where a student might be
suspended or higher,” Horton said, whereas the Student Conduct Board handles
lower-level cases.
The role of the board in such cases is to
allow both students involved in a dispute to
tell their sides of the story, after which the

See Resolution, A5

See Hearing Board, A5

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BINGO

KYLIE MONTERO / HEIGHTS STAFF

BC Students for Sexual Health hosted Sex Toy Bingo at Roggie’s Tuesday – an event that
sought an alternative way to educate students about sexual health. For more, see Pg. A3

Juliet Schor, a professor in the sociology department, recently
released her new book on ecology and consumer society.

Last Thursday, Juliet Schor
gave a presentation on her book,
Plentitude: The New Economics of
True Wealth, as part of the Winston
Center lecture series.
Plenitude, a book that deals with
economics and ecological decline, is
the latest of many books written by
Schor, a professor in the sociology
department. As a sociologist who
has spent most of her career studying consumer society, Schor said she
has more recently been combining

her prior research with the issue of
environmental sustainability and
how it affects the lives of the daily
American. “I’ve been doing the research for Plentitude for quite a few
years,” Schor said. “It also relates to
issues I’ve been working on for my
whole career.”
Schor began her presentation by
explaining the current state of both
the environment and economy today.
Schor said that, together, these factors hint toward a predictable downward spiral in our economy. Showing
graphs as well as other data, she said
that despite the acknowledgement

of climate change decades earlier,
natural resource extraction has signiﬁcantly increased.
“Dematerialization is not materializing,” Schor said. “We must
address ecological deprivation, and
we can.”
This, Schor said, would cause
the economy to eventually become
less successful, as over-extraction
as well as a host of other factors
would raise the costs of production.
Furthermore, Schor said the most
recent economic collapse in 2007

See Schor, A5

TopFive

Thursday, November 11, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

things to do on campus this week

Veterans Remembrance Mass

1

Today
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Location: St. Ignatius
Church

The 10th annual Veterans
Remembrance Mass will be followed by a roll call at 11 a.m. at
the BC Veterans Memorial on the
Burns Library lawn.

Learning From Disaster

2

Friday
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: East Wing
120, Law School

This symposium will feature speakers reﬂecting on the
future of the Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill, and will
last from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m.

Men’s Bball vs. St. Francis

3

Friday
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Conte Forum

Come cheer on the BC men’s
basketball team as it officially
kicks off its season against the
Terriers of St. Francis College
(NY).

FEATURED ON CAMPUS

Federal aid up 72 percent

BC Symphony Orchestra

4

Friday
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Trinity Chapel

The BC symphony orchestra
will be performing Bartok’s “Romanian Dances” and the “New
World” symphony by Dvorak at its
annual fall concert.

Remapping the Liberal Arts

5

Saturday
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Heights
Room

The Institute for the Liberal
Arts at BC presents a day-long
symposium that will explore the
place of the liberal arts in the 21st
century.

IntheNews

FOUR DAY
WEATHER FORECAST
TODAY

46°
Partly Sunny
36°

FRIDAY

56°
Sunny
37°

SATURDAY

59°
Sunny

University
Study shows sharp decline in gifts
from the wealthy to nonprofits
A study by researchers at Indiana University showed
that gifts from wealthy Americans to nonprofit organizations – including colleges and universities – dropped
by an average of almost 35 percent from 2007 to 2009,
according to a report by The Chronicle of Higher Education. However, the study said that educational institutions were the recipients of the second-biggest share of
gifts, at 19.3 percent, behind foundations, trusts, and
other similar instruments for giving, such as donoradvised funds, according to the Chronicle.

Bernie Pekala, second from right, and the Enrollment Management Dean’s Office assess students’ financial needs.
BY DANIEL MORRISON
For The Heights

Federal spending on financial aid to colleges and
universities soared 72 percent between the 2008-09
and 2009-10 academic years,
according to a report by the
College Board.
In total, $41.3 billion in
federal funds was spent on
financial aid during the most
recently completed academic
year.
Increased spending on
the Pell Grant program and
f inancial aid provided to
military veterans fueled the
rise, according to the organization’s “2010 Trends in
Student Aid” report.
The Pell Grant program,
which supports undergraduate and graduate students,
rose to $28.2 billion from
$17.9 billion between the
2008-09 and 2009-10 periods.
Ref lecting a similar
spending trajectory, financial
aid given to Boston College
students in the form of Pell
Grants and supplemental
grants from the University
climbed 43 percent, or $1.66
million, between the two
academic periods.
BC students and their
families have a chance to
benefit from the grant increases, said Bernie Pekala,
director of student financial

strategies.
“When they increase the
dollar amount of the Pell
Grant, more students become
eligible for receiving money,”
Pekala said. A report by The
Chronicle of Higher Education showed that Pell Grant
recipients increased from
6.2 million to 7.7 million
over the latter time periods
discussed.
Financial aid for members
of the military provided by
the post-Sept. 11 GI Bill –
which first became available
for the 2009-10 academic
year – more than doubled,
increasing from $4.1 billion
in 2008-09 to $9.5 billion
last year.
The GI Bill supported just
under 20 BC undergraduate
and graduate students last
year, Pekala said.
Aside from increases in
student aid, the College
Board report examined debt
levels among graduates from
public and private four-year
colleges receiving bachelor’s
degrees.
It reported that college
students’ average debt at
graduation from public and
private four-year colleges
declined slightly between
the 2007-08 and 2008-09
periods, after adjustments
for inflation.
Graduates of four-year
public colleges had an average debt of $19,800, and

graduates with bachelor’s
degrees from private colleges experienced an average
debt of $26,100 in the 200809 academic period. These
numbers were not the result
of a substantial increase in
student borrowing, according to the Chronicle analysis
of the College Board report.
Despite higher levels of
tuition and fees at four-year
colleges, grant aid has risen
more than enough to compensate for price increases,
the Chronicle report said.
A f te r t h e R e p u b l i ca n
Party’s gains in the midterm
elections, many have worried about the impact of
possible spending cuts on
student financial aid, Pekala
said, citing students’ need
to demonstrate the importance of maintaining grant
increases in an environment
of high unemployment and
depressed home values.
“The message both parents and students need to get
out is how important this aid
is,” Pekala said.
Continuing BC’s pledge
to meet 100 percent of its
students’ demonstrated financial need is a critical test
for the University, Pekala
said.
“The biggest challenge we
face is keeping college open
to our best and brightest, no
matter what their financial
situation is.” 

Yesterday, two Newton teenagers pleaded not guilty
to murder, armed robbery, and firearms charges stemming from the Sept. 30 death of 29-year-old Adam Coveney in Waltham, according to a report by The Boston
Globe. Benjamin Peirce, 17, and Shaquan Jacobs, 18,
were held without bail after yesterday’s arraignment.
According to the Globe report, the Middlesex district
attorney’s office said that Peirce, Jacobs, and another
man allegedly arranged a drug deal with Coveney in
order to rob him of Percocet tablets.

On Campus
Eagle EMS commemorates National
Collegiate EMS Week with activities
All this week, Boston College has joined in celebrating National Collegiate EMS Week, which
is dedicated to recognizing the efforts of the 246
collegiate EMS organizations across the United
States and Canada. To commemorate the week,
Eagle EMS taught Hands-Only CPR to students in
O’Neill Plaza on Monday. In addition, Eagle EMS
will have information tables located in the dining
halls for the remainder of the week to inform students about the organization.

National
Teen, object of taunting after saying
she was raped, commits suicide
HURON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Samantha
Kelly endured merciless taunting from classmates
after they learned that the high school freshman
had accused a senior of rape. The weeks of harassment eventually became too much. Samantha went
home from school Monday and hanged herself in
this community southwest of Detroit. With their
key witness dead, prosecutors on Wednesday
dropped criminal charges against the older student, saying they had no case without the accuser’s
testimony.

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CUSTOMER SERVICE

Police Blotter
11/5/10 – 11/7/10
Friday, November 5
3:18 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a
party in Ignacio Hall requesting medical
assistance. The party was transported to a
medical facility in a police cruiser.
4:03 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a
past larceny in the Plex. A detective will
follow up.
5:49 p.m. - A report was filed regarding
the confiscation of alcohol from a minor
on Campanella Way. A report will be forwarded to ODSD for review.
9:00 p.m. - A report was filed regarding
an underage intoxicated party in Conte
Forum. The party was transported by ambulance to a medical facility.
9:35 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a
party that presented fraudulent identification off-campus. The party was identified
and a detective will follow up.

Saturday, November 6
12:43 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an
underage intoxicated party in the Middle
Campus lots. The party was transported by
ambulance to a medical facility.
12:21 p.m. - A report was filed regarding

a fire alarm activation in the Mods. The
alarm was triggered due to bad cooking.
9:02 p.m. - A report was filed regarding the
confiscation of a controlled substance and
alcohol from an underage party who was
operating a motor vehicle in the Beacon
Street garage. The keys to the motor vehicle were confiscated due to the operator
being impaired and the parties were issued
written trespass warnings.

Voices from the Dustbowl
“What topic would you like to see discussed
at the next State of the Heights meeting?”

1:00 a.m. - A report was filed regarding an
underage intoxicated party in Walsh Hall.
The party was transported by ambulance
to a medical facility.
“School spirit.”
—Matt Alvarez,

—Source: The Boston College
Police Department

CSOM ’13

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Friday.

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on Mondays and Thursdays during
the academic year by
The Heights, Inc.
(c) 2010. All rights reserved.

CORRECTIONS
Please send
corrections to
editor@bcheights.com
with ‘correction’
in the subject line.

A3

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

BC Students for Sexual Health hosts Sex Toy Bingo

By Michael Caprio
News Editor

A group of Boston College
students met in the basement of
Roggie’s Tuesday night to play
bingo. A moderator read questions while participants marked
their boards with M&Ms. “Gspot!” said one student who won
in the first round.
The event, Sex Toy Bingo,
was organized by BC Students
for Sexual Health (BCSSH) and
was the first of its kind for the
organization.
Nick Domino, an organizer of
the event and A&S ’12, said that
although the organization usually
hosts events aimed at promoting
sexual health, the bingo night
had elements meant to promote
sexual pleasure, as well.
Good Vibrations, a national
sexual product retailer, pro-

vided the prizes for the night,
which included an array of
personal items for winners and
runners-up.
Domino, who conceived the
idea for the project, said he was
inspired by similar projects at
local colleges. He then went
looking for sponsors.
“We found Good Vibrations
on Harvard Ave., and they were
very accommodating,” he said.
The store liked the idea and
placed Domino in contact with
their national off ice in San
Francisco.
“They got back to us right
away,” he said. “They were fine
with it as long as we put their
name out there. They let us roll
with it.”
Cat Briggs, A&S ’12, said
she thought the nature of the
event would draw a large number of people. “I think it’s going

to be awkward and fun,” she
said. “I think that’s why a lot
of people are here. But I think
that while a lot of people might
pretend they don’t want the
prizes, some of them actually
might.”
Domino said that it was a
good way to get information
out about contraceptive effectiveness and the prevalence
of STIs. Organizers handed
students condoms and personal
lubricant along with checkered
playing boards, on which were
statistics about sexual health.
O rga n i ze rs rea d q u e st i o n s
aloud to the audience, and
those who were able to match
the question to the appropriate
numerical answer were able to
mark their boards.
“It was an easy event to
publicize,” Domino said. “Sex
sells." n

Kylie Montero / Heights staff

BC Students for Sexual Health hosted its first Sex Toy Bingo, with prizes for the night provided by Good Vibrations.

Last week, the NCAA released
its Graduation Success Rate (GSR)
report, which ranked Boston College the highest in any Division I
NCAA university, with 21 teams
receiving perfect scores.
Every year, the NCAA compiles
data on the GRS of more than
25,000 student athletes at more
than 330 affiliated Division I colleges and universities across the
United States.
Among the 21 BC sports receiving a perfect GSR score are men’s
baseball, fencing, golf, skiing, sailing, swimming, and tennis, along
with women’s basketball, cross
country / track, rowing, fencing,
field hockey, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, sailing, skiing, soccer, softball, swimming, and volleyball.
BC football received a 90, which
makes BC one of only six universities in Division I NCAA football
to receive a score of 90 or higher,
alongside Notre Dame, Duke,
Northwestern, Rice, and Navy.
While this score is an achievement
for BC, the GSR score for BC foot-

ball has been on the decline for the
past four years that the NCAA has
been calculating the GSR, having
dropped from a 96 in 2006.
BC athletic teams that scored
the worst during this year’s GSR
statistics include men’s basketball,
cross country / track, ice hockey,
soccer, and women’s tennis. However, these teams scored much
higher than the national average.
The NCAA compiles data on
how many student athletes graduate within a six-year time frame
from their respective universities.
It then assigns a score to each
athletic team for each participating university, with a perfect score
as 100, indicating that all student
athletes have graduated within the
six-year time frame.
In order to ensure that BC
student athletes graduate within
the NCAA time frame of six years,
coaches and the athletic staff at
BC emphasize the importance of
academics to their athletes.
“Our coaches and support staff
really place a lot of emphasis on
education,” said Chris Cameron,
director of media relations for the
athletics department. “There is

an emphasis placed on classroom
attendance. Academics are important to athletics here.”
Maintaining a high GSR
and the reputation of academic
achievement in athletics is central
to the recruiting process at BC,
Cameron said.
“From the beginning of the
recruiting process, our coaches are
looking for athletes with academic
profiles that would fit our program
here, will be successful academically, and will graduate with degrees in four or five years,” he said.
“The students who participate are
first and foremost BC students.
They must meet the academic
requirements for Boston College.
Our coaches, when they recruit,
want to have student athletes who
will be successful academically.”
But, he said, balancing athletics with academics has been
a challenge for some athletes.
“It’s not easy at all, it’s almost
like going to school full time and
working full time,” said Jarick
Walker, former Eagle linebacker
and BC ’10.
“Especially the amount of
hours you play for football alone

is crazy,” he said. “We would then
have morning workouts, class, and
meetings. There are no days off,
especially in season, and you have
to balance your homework with
that. If you pull an all-nighter, you
have a terrible day or week if you
have to run and lift in the morning.
It’s not too fun if you have to do
that stuff.”
Walker said that not all students are able to handle the demands of being a student athlete.
“It’s inevitable that even the
smartest kids on the team had bad
days when they had to stay up late
to do work and still be at practice
the next day,” he said. “It’s not for
everybody, not all athletes do that,
they either transfer or get kicked
off the team.”
In the beginning, Walker struggled with balancing football and
academics. “My freshman year I
didn’t balance it at all. Sleeping
was something I never did. But I
noticed when I started doing my
homework, the more homework
I did, the better I did in class,
and the better I did at practice,”
Walker said.

BC provides academic resources, like the Learning Resource
Center for Student Athletes in the
Yawkey Center and the Connors
Family Learning Center, in an effort to ease the struggle of balancing academics and athletics.
Cameron said these resources
are one component of a system
that supports BC’s historically
high GSR scores.
Olivia Curry, a member of the
fencing team and A&S ’13, said the
help that the Learning Resource
Center provides athletes with has
been instrumental in her academic
success this year. “Last year I
didn’t use them nearly enough,
and I struggled. But this year I use
them a lot, and I’m doing a lot better academically,” she said.
Walker, who now runs a learning resource center for student
athletes in Brighton, said that
the Learning Resource Center
positively influenced his academic
success at BC. “One of the resources that helped me was I had
a French tutor,” he said. “I went
there a couple times to get help on
papers, and they communicated
with my teachers. If I wasn’t do-

ing well in class, teachers would
contact them, so they would know
I had an idea and help me fix the
problem.”
While the GSR statistics are
an indicator of athletes’ academic
performance, they do not measure
the grade performance of athletes
while they are in college, nor do
they measure the success of athletes entering the work force.
“The [GSR] data isn’t translated directly to professions,”
Cameron said.
While there is no data available that connects the GSR with
a successful post-graduate career,
Cameron said that the skills athletes obtain outside the classroom
help prepare them for their future
careers.
“While we do not have data
to show this, there is a huge value
with attaining a BC degree,” he
said. “The student athletes here
are able to connect with former
student athletes and their visibility
helps them with networking, which
will help them with the rest of their
careers. They also have learned
valuable skills as athletes, like time
management.” n

Allston-Brighton Crime Reports
11/5/10 – 11/8/10

Bicyclist struck by car, driver found to be under the influence
On Monday, Nov. 8, Boston Police responded to a call for a motor vehicle accident on Commonwealth Avenue at 1:40 a.m. The victim had been riding his bike outbound toward Brighton
when a car struck him from behind. Witnesses said that, upon impact, the victim, not wearing
a helmet, hit the windshield of the vehicle, flew 10 feet in the air, and then fell to the pavement. When the police arrived, the victim was in severe pain and was transported to Beth
Israel Hospital. Upon questioning the vehicle’s driver, police noted that the suspect smelled
like alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, and had difficulty providing his license and registration.
After failing to sufficiently perform field sobriety tests, the suspect reportedly said, “I didn’t
want to drive ’cause I’m drunk.” The suspect was arrested for operating a vehicle under the
influence of alcohol.

Officers investigate vandalism, victim’s roommate suspected
Boston Police responded to a call of vandalism on Friday, Nov. 5, at 12 p.m. The victim told
police she had returned to her apartment that morning to find her room vandalized. There
was broken glass on the floor, and items from the victim’s desk were broken and thrown
throughout the room. The victim questioned her roommate, who claimed that the victim had
locked her out of the apartment. The victim claims her roommate was drunk and probably
got in a fight with her boyfriend. Police advised the victim to lock her bedroom door and
report further incidents.

BU student arrested for drinking in public, minor in possession
Boston Police on Sunday, Nov. 7, at 1:45 a.m. approached a suspect drinking alcohol from
an open container on Pratt Street. Upon seeing the police, the suspect attempted to walk
away and drop the beer. However, the police questioned him and found that he was a Boston
University undergraduate. The student was underage and produced two fake IDs, both of
which the police confiscated. The police arrested the suspect for being a minor in possession
of alcohol as well as for drinking in public.

Suspect arrested attempted larcency of a motor vehicle
At around 5 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7, Boston Police apprehended a suspect on Commonwealth
Avenue in Brighton for attempting to break into multiple vehicles. The police watched as
the suspect tried to gain entrance to more than 20 vehicles by pulling on the passenger door
handles. The suspect continually looked over his shoulder while attempting to break into the
cars. Upon questioning, the suspect reportedly said, “I was trying to break into a car to get back
to Norwood.” The police arrested the suspect for attempted larceny of a motor vehicle.

Halloween ornaments stolen from victim’s front yard
On Nov. 7, a victim reported a larceny of over $200 to the Boston Police. The victim claimed
that Halloween ornaments had been stolen from his front yard over various nights between
Monday, Nov. 1, and that morning. The victim reported missing two gravestones, a severed
(rubber) head, animal skulls, a wooden coffin, two skeletal flamingos, and a vampire head.

Breaking and entering results in over $12,000 of stolen property
Boston Police responded to a call for a breaking and entering by force on Sunday, Nov. 7 at
4:30 p.m. The victims estimated that the incident took place at 10 a.m. that morning. When
police arrived at the scene, they noticed that the apartment’s front doorframe and lock were
broken and wood chips were laying on the floor. There was also evidence of pry marks on the
doorframe. The victim reported more than $12,000 of stolen property, including laptops,
jewelry, watches, and cameras. Detectives took evidence from the scene and suggested that
the victim try to trace the lost computers using special software. The detectives will follow
up with the victims at a later date.

- Courtesy of the Boston Police Department, District 14,
Gathered by Kendall Bitonte & Adriana Mariella for The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Heights

A4

Shabbat may prevent some from making complaints
deeply troubled while attempting to worship on the weekend,”
“There are many restrictions Montgomery said. “There would
and prohibitions of acts that be complaints ranging from noise
constitute work on the Shabbat to more graphic ones, such as
for people of the Jewish faith, public urination. For some, it
such as the use of phones ex- was really a story of suffering
cept in cases of life-threatening in silence while they respect the
emergencies,” said Rabbi Andrew worship restrictions of their JewVogel of Temple Sinai in Brook- ish faith on Friday evenings.”
line. “Typical student conduct
Part of responding to the
issues would not be considered complaints involves Montgomemergencies.Therefore, any com- ery’s interaction with students in
plaints regarding student activity the neighborhoods on weekends.
would not be reported until after Both Montgomery and Chebator
the Shabbat, if one were strictly said they agree that interacadhering to the restrictions. The tion with students earlier in the
Shabbat is a time of peaceful- evening has helped to prevent
ness and quiet in the company small issues from escalating into
of family and friends. It is a time complaints and irritated neighto e n j oy t h e
bors.
peacefulness of “Personally, if students
“ We d e a l
all creation.”
with crowds as
want to gather, they
In an effort
we see them,”
t o p r o m o t e should have a gathering. M o n t g o m e r y
respect and
“We want
If I want silence, then I said.
awa re n e ss o f
to be quick and
will go to the temple.” impactful, preneighbors, especially those
venting comof the Jewish
plaints. While
— Theodore Schneider,
faith attemptge n e ra l c o n i n g t o w o r - Rabbi, Temple B’nai Moshe cerns of stuship on Friday
dent noise and
evenings, University officials drinking still exist, the nature of
have cited numerous initiatives complaints has improved. The
including informational meet- complaints have changed from ‘I
ings, proactive enforcement, and could do nothing because of my
citations for noise offenders to faith’ to ‘It was a bit noisy at the
ensure that students respect all house next door on Friday.’”
of their neighbors’ rights.
Chebator and Montgomery
“BC has taken neighborhood said that Eagle Ambassadors,
concerns seriously, especially students who serve as resources
concerns relating to student and points of contact for stuconduct that infringes on one dents living in their neighborworshipping according to their hoods, and the Campus Comfaith,” said Paul Chebator, senior munity Partnership Initiative,
associate dean in the Office of are evidence of the University’s
the Dean for Student Develop- commitment to improving relament (ODSD). “Students should tions and dialogue between BC
be reasonable and respectful, students residing off-campus
sensitive to other faith tradi- and permanent neighborhood
tions.”
residents.
Proactively addressing offIn regards to the effectivecampus issues of student con- ness of the University’s efforts
duct, especially on Friday nights at being proactive with offout of respect for worshipping campus issues, Chebator said
Jews, is largely the responsibility that comparative statistics show
of Steve Montgomery, the off- a decline in neighbor-generated
campus community liaison.
complaints about off-campus
“Ten years ago, when I started student conduct.
the job as BC’s off-campus comSince the beginning of the
munity liaison, I would receive 2010-2011 academic year, 37
numerous calls on Monday morn- complaints regarding off-caming from people of the Jewish pus student conduct were refaith stating that their family was ceived and addressed by BC

Shabbat, from A1

involving 68 students. In the
same period for the year prior,
there were 43 complaints involving 148 students.
Chebator said that the annual
turnover off campus is partly to
blame for the consistent complaints received by permanent
local residents, especially those
from Jews worshipping on Friday
evenings.
“Each year we have a different crop of students moving
off campus, usually juniors,”
Chebator said. “Therefore, each
year we have to educate a new
group about the neighborhood
and off-campus conduct. Neighborhood problems will not be
significantly reduced until we
get all undergraduates residing
on campus.”
While rabbis at local Jewish
temples could not recall any
specific matter brought to their
attention by members of their
congregations about infringement of their ability to worship
peacefully during their Shabbat
services, all mentioned the importance of being a respectful
and considerate neighbor.
“One of the most important
teachings of Judaism is the
importance of being a good
neighbor,” Vogel said. “It is not
just one of the most important
teachings of Judaism. It is one
of the great teachings of most
all religions.”
Despite complaints from
neighbors and student conduct
occasionally infringing on the
worship of Jews on Fridays,
Rabbi Schneider said he has
never had a problem with BC
student conduct and expressed
his support of students gathering
off campus.
“Those of other faiths, such as
Judaism, must also understand
that college is a time to develop
as an individual, and part of that
development is social, so I understand the student need to gather
on the weekends,” Schneider
said. “Personally, if students
want to gather, they should have
a gathering. If I want silence,
then I will go to the temple. That
being said, I live in an apartment
building, which has three other
BC students in it. I have never
had a problem with them. They
are good neighbors.” n

Daniel Tonkovich / Heights staff

Complaints from Orthodox members of local temples pose an issue for some administrators at Boston College.

gram grow and have a second Splash
event in the Boston area.”
The Splash organizers, which include
Cheng and Piccirillo, as well as Andrea
Alfani, CSON ’12; Conor Sullivan, LSOE
’13; and Matt Ricketson, A&S ’13, worked
with an organization called Learning Unlimited to bring Splash to the Heights.
“Learning Unlimited is a non-profit
organization founded by an MIT grad
who ran Splash while at MIT,” Cheng
said. “The purpose of the organization
is to bring Splash to other universities.
Splash would have been really hard to put
together without collaboration with other
schools, and I don’t think [BC] reaches
out to other schools enough.”
Beginning in April, Splash organizers
began meeting with administrators to
organize the logistics of the event. “When
we came back this year, we were approved
and got a budget,” Piccirillo said. “We
then recruited teachers, made a course
catalog, and then recruited students.”
Once the idea for a BC Splash program
was brought to campus, the concept was
adopted by the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC).
“Splash was an idea that I brought
to the UGBC, but Andrea and I are the
only UGBC members,” Cheng said. “We

had a lot of UGBC support, and we pulled
a lot of our volunteers from their event
management team.”
“I’ve had the idea of BC Splash since
freshman year,” he said. “I wanted to do
it because in high school, I went to MIT
Splash. The UGBC gave me a platform
to do this.”
Funding for the event, which amounted to about $2,000, came from the
UGBC.
“They also helped with a lot of our
publicity,” Piccirillo said.
The Splash program, with a course
catalog consisting of 102 different class
options, attracted more than 250 students
from the Boston area, and beyond.
“We had international interest,”
Cheng said. “We had a student come from
Canada. That was the farthest.”
The program was limited to ninth
through 12th grade high school students,
and more than 170 students out of the
250 that applied turned out on the day
of the event, Piccirillo said. “We turned
out a respectable amount for the history
of Splash,” she said.
Some of the most popular classes,
taught by more than 120 BC undergraduates, included: The Subtle Art of Body
Language in Dating and Business, The
Rebel’s Art, an Improv Workshop, and
Political Structures and Policies in the

World of Harry Potter.
Splash organizers said that the event,
more than anything, was an opportunity
for the high school students to explore
their interests.
“It’s a chance for [students] to explore,” Piccirillo said. “Splash is very
independent for the students. They are
not chaperoned. We kept the age level
high so we wouldn’t have to babysit.”
Cheng said that the program was not
an admissions portal, but instead was
about much more than that. “Splash is
not about BC admissions. We don’t exist to bring high school kids here to BC,
we’re not another SAP [Student Admission Program]-type thing, this is just a
side effect.”
“It’s more like a college experience,”
Cheng said.
“In college you can ask people assertively, ‘What’s you major?’” Ricketson
said. “High school students might not
know their specific interests because they
haven’t had a chance to explore.”
One of the best aspects of the program
was the passion that the undergraduate
teachers brought to their classes, she
said.
“The teachers really cared about what
they were teaching,” Cheng said.
Based on the teachers’ feedback,
Piccirillo said, “People’s favorite part

of the day was talking with kids about
something they love.”
“I really didn’t know what to expect,”
said Nick Hofmaier, A&S ’11, who taught
The Subtle Art of Body Language in Dating and Business. “I didn’t expect it to be
this much fun. We had a lot of students
show. We wanted to take the aspects from
college courses that we like the most, such
as discussion and humor [and incorporate
them into our class].
“I was really nervous, but from what
I’ve heard, all the teachers volunteered
and taught things they were passionate
about,” Hofmaier said. “A lot of time
high school students don’t get to choose
many of their classes, so the course catalog
that was produced was really cool because
students could choose from over 100 different classes.”
Kevin DeCusatis, A&S ’13, incorporated personal experience into his two
classes, The Art of Friendship Bracelet
Making and Surviving Freshman Year in
One Piece.
“I was a camp counselor over the summer where we made friendship bracelets,
so it seemed like a logical choice,” he said.
“Also, I had a really rough freshman year,
and it’s nice to be able to help other people, and I did a talk to freshmen already
this year about roommate issues and how
not to stress out about classes.
“My first class wasn’t as successful
as I wanted it to be, but I do think [the
students] had fun,” DeCusatis said. “I had
11 students for friendship bracelet making,
and I was overwhelmed because it was all
hands on. It was a success in that they
had fun, and they all got at least [one]
bracelet done.”

“Kids don’t come here to learn facts,”
Ricketson said. “It’s about passion, not so
much education.”
“The course catalog reflects what
BC students are interested in,” Cheng
said. “Splash gives you an opportunity
to share your interests in a positive way.
It closes the gap between academic and
social life.”
“Teachers applied and we were looking
for passions,” Piccirillo said. “It wasn’t
about denying a class, [but] some were
logistically troubling.”
For that reason, Cheng said, the Splash
organizers held office hours. “We had office
hours, where people could discuss their
ideas with us and we could work out any
issues,” he said.
“Everything at BC you have to apply
for, but you shouldn’t be denied from sharing something you love,” Cheng said.
“The only criteria was that you were
sharing your passion,” Piccirillo said.
Splash organizers said they are looking
forward to continuing the program.
“There are so many directions we can
go,” Piccirillo said. “From this event, we
can build a program.”
In the future we would like to add more
intensive classes and a summer program,
Cheng said, who also said he thought the
day was a huge success.
“Students looked happy, everyone
looked happy,” Piccirillo said. “The teachers were excited and wanted to know if
we’re expanding.”
“A lot of kids said they want to come
back next year and bring their friends,”
Ricketson said.
“Splash is not going to stop,” Cheng
said. “This is a new BC tradition.” n

cecilia provvedini / heights staff

Much of Saturday’s event was based off similar events at MIT and Northwestern. BC Splash organizers said they
wanted the program to allow students to share their passions with high school students who showed interest.

board will determine whether the
accused is ‘responsible’ or ‘not
responsible.’ If the board finds
the accused responsible of the
charges, or of a lesser violation
– for example, sexual misconduct
rather than sexual assault – it will
then recommend a sanction to the
Office of the Dean for Student
Development (ODSD).
Horton said that the board
does not act in the same manner
as a judge might in court. “This
is not a court of law,” she said.
“They recommend the sanction.
We review that and then make a
final decision.”
Sanctions in sexual assault or
misconduct cases range from be-

ing assigned to alcohol education
or anger management programs to
University suspension or expulsion,
Horton said.
“There’s a lot that goes into
the sanctioning process that
helps students to learn from their
mistakes,” Horton said. “We take
both students into account … we
want to see both of them learn
from this incident. We have a
different goal [from the justice
system] – our goal is not punishment.”
Members of the Administrative
Hearing Board are all volunteers,
and are nominated through various channels. The administrators
may come from any BC department, and all volunteer to serve
on the board.

Last year, following the committee review of the University’s
conduct process, the provost’s
office made recommendations
for a number of faculty members,
who then volunteered if they were
interested in serving on the board.
The students were all previously
chairpersons of the Student Conduct Board for at least one year,
Horton said.
The general pool of board
members is composed of roughly
25 administrators, nine faculty
members, and five students, according to Paul Chebator, senior
associate dean in ODSD.
Every new board member goes
through an individual training
session where they learn about the
philosophy and goals of the board,

in addition to meetings for all new of sexual assaults, he said that
and returning board members particular attention is paid to
each fall, Chebator said.
mentoring board members on
“We do training sessions with how to proceed through such
the University counsel pres- cases. “Usually every other year,
ent,” he said. “He or she will go we do a specialized training on
over the legal implications of adjudicating sexual assault cases
our work, [and]
because those
how we differ
are usually
“We have a different
from a court of
most chalgoal [from the justice the
law.”
lenging cases
In addition, system] – our goal is not we deal with,”
Chebator said
Chebator said.
punishment.”
that ODSD
Fo r e a c h
brings in repredispute heard
sentatives from
by the board,
— Sheila Shaw Horton,
the Middlesex
one of the adDean, ODSD
district attorm i n i st ra to rs
ney’s office in addition to other serves as the board’s chairperson,
attorneys and law experts.
Chebator said. There are roughly
Because of the sensitivity five chairpersons who are all

administrators and who are the
most seasoned members of the
board, and each goes through
individual, specialized training
prior to chairing a board.
Horton said that when it
comes to the University conduct
policy, she is unsure whether
all students who are victims of
sexual assaults are aware of the
full range of options available
to them.
“What we haven’t done in
general is to assess all students’
knowledge,” Horton said, adding that instruments such as the
Sexual Assault Network (SANet)
are designed to make students
more comfortable with being able
to anonymously report sexual
crimes. n

Schor presents ‘plentitude solution’ to economic problems
Schor, from A1
that caused the employment
rate to spike to higher than
10 percent, and said that the
United States needs over 11
million jobs to put itself back
to pre-collapse levels. But, she
said, this is an unrealistic goal
to accomplish in a short period
of time because of the current
issue of technology replacing
labor and the increasing use of
offshore labor.
“The conventional solution
... is no longer available to solve
unemployment,” Schor said. “We
need to get our economy under
control. It has turned into a ravaging beast.”
Schor then proposed her response to the environmental and
economic crises, what she refers
to as the “Plentitude Solution.”
“[The goal of this theory is]
to put forward a concrete vision
of a small scale, ecologically
liked, high well-being economy,”
Schor said.
Across the country and the
world, many people are starting
to withdraw or reduce their labor
from the formal economy, as work
has become more demanding and

less profitable, Schor said.
She said that some people
have diversified their source of
income and have become more
self-reliant by doing things such
as growing their own vegetables,
sharing expensive goods like
cars, running small businesses,
and trading services within the
community.
“They are emphasizing a new
way of living,” she said. “They
learn how to make things, which
they develop into skill, and then
turn this into a living and a career.”
Further, Schor said that the
rest of the population, and the
government, should follow this
trend.
By spending less time in
the formal labor market and
becoming more self-sufficient,
people would save money, energy, creativity, and their impact on the environment would
decrease, she said.
Schor also said thatthe government could help by enacting
measures such as a four day
work week, an act that would
reduce energy costs and carbon
emissions, and giving workers
more leisure time. This time

elise taylor / heights staff

Schor said that some people affected by the economy are becoming less dependent on wage jobs and have adopted more frugal, self-sufficient lifestyles.
would be spent on making
connections with neighbors,
which would lead to the sharing of goods and the initiating
of projects that would advance

thing Schor said is desperately needed. “We must promote economies of reuse and
change,” she said.
Schor said she is optimistic

about the success of the Plentitude movement. “This is a
construction of a healthier way
of life,” she said. “These kinds
of innovations will spread.” n

BPD issues party trolley
company several citations

Boston Police report underage drinking in trolley
By Taylour Kumpf

lights inside that were visible
through the windshield.
Oknin left the bus obstructOn Oct. 22, police cited the ing traffic from 9:50 until 10:15
operator of a party bus, packed p.m., while a number of stuwith 90 college students, for a dents exited and entered the
battery of violations including bus. Officers reported people
allowing underage passengers were observed entering the bus
on board, open alcohol con- with about seven cases of beer
tainers, loud music, displaying and a keg of beer, which resulted
emergency vehicle lights without in an additional citation for
a permit, and overcrowding by transporting an excess of 20
three times its capacity, accord- gallons of alcohol.
ing to a Boston Police report.
When detectives in an unOfficers reportedly watched marked vehicle turned on their
the bus, with music blaring and own blue lights and sirens, other
lights flashing, make multiple nearby drivers moved out of the
stops, at times obstructing way. The bus driver, however,
traffic, to pick up and drop off did not pull over for five blocks,
dancing passengers along Com- “presumably because the opmonwealth Ave.
erator could not hear the multiWhen the bus pulled up at the tone sirens and could not disintersection of Greycliff Road tinguish between our emergency
and Commonlights and his
wea l t h Ave. ,
“[The bus did not pull own,” the reit stopped in
port said.
over] presumably
the right lane,
When Oknin
because the operator did pull over,
completely
blocking one
could not hear the multi- he repeatedo f two l a n e s
ly said all on
of traffic. Of- tone sirens and could not board were of
ficers reported distinguish between our legal drinking
that vehicles
age, according
emergency lights
wishing to
to the Boston
turn right
Police.
and his own.”
were boxed in
As police
by the bus and
re-checked
— Boston Police Report t h e p a s s e n oncoming traffic, and were
gers’ IDs, they
therefore forced to back their counted 90 people on the bus,
vehicles up and go around the which only has a capacity of 30
bus, creating a hazardous situ- people. Two underage passenation.
gers were found on the bus – one
The bus picked up a large allegedly was a BC student – who
group of students in the Boston were asked to exit and the BC
College area before heading in- Police Department (BCPD) was
bound on Commonwealth Ave., contacted.
often occupying both of the
Oknin was allowed to leave
busy roadway’s lanes, according the area once he received his cito the police report.
tations, according to the report,
Gideon Oknin, an employee and additional court action will
of The Original Party Trolley follow.
of Boston, Inc., was operating
A company representative
the bus.
from The Original Trolley Bus
The side and rear windows company said they had not peof the trolley were painted and nalized Oknin in any way. “We’re
covered excessively, preventing going to fight it in court,” the
visibility, Boston Police officers employee said. “We’re not just
reported, and the bus had blue going to let it go. We checked the
lights along its exterior and a IDs, everyone was 21, and anyhanging disco ball with flashing way you can still use the trolley if
Asst. News Editor

you’re not 21, we just don’t allow
you to bring alcohol on.”
“We got stopped for no reason,” he said. “We’re taking care
of it.”
The Original Party Trolley
charges a group fee of $899 for
four hours to transport passengers from bar to bar.
When renting out a trolley,
the goings-on of the night are up
to the passengers, the employee
said. “We come up to school,
pick you guys up by the church,
go bar-hopping, whatever you
want to do. You can bring your
own alcohol, your own food,
whatever you want.”
In light of the incident, Paul
Chebator, senior associate dean
for the Office of the Dean for
Student Development (ODSD)
said, “It’s certainly not something the University supports or
condones, and it’s not the kind
of thing we want to associate
with Boston College.”
He said that the bus should
not even be allowed on campus
because BC is private property.
“Look at the amount of alcohol in that small contained
area,” Chebator said. “It was
not an atmosphere of socialization, but more an atmosphere of intoxication. That
many people sounds like a real
safety issue, too. It scares me
because there’s one exit and
entrance, which is a potential
safety hazard. If the bus got in
an accident, people wouldn’t
be able to get out.”
Overcrowding and complications from alcohol could lead
to a potential disaster, he said.
“It would be one thing if it was
transporting people responsibly from one place to another,
but it doesn’t sound like that’s
the case.”
“It’s great for people to get
off campus and into Boston.
This isn’t accomplishing that,
though,” Chebator said. “It’s a
shame they’re not getting out
into the city and are instead
packing 90 people into this
bus. How do you socialize with
90 people on a bus?” n

elise taylor / heights staff

The resolution will not provided funding for students to get tested, but will increase awareness of resources that are
already available to students on campus who might want to get tested for sexually transmitted infections (STI).

Included in the resolution is a
provision to provide stickers for
students who are tested and support testing for STIs. The stickers, which will read “I got tested,”
are aimed at spreading awareness
among the student body about
the resources BC Health Services
provides.
The campaign is scheduled
to last three days, but the Senate hopes the message it sends
will last beyond the length of the
campaign itself. “Awareness about
STI testing will spread through a
viral campaign that way,” Domino

said.
While the Senate supports
STI testing, this resolution will
not provide funding for students
to get tested. While STI testing
is not free through BC Health
Services, it is subsidized through
the University’s health insurance
plan. However, depending on the
type of STI test being conducted,
it could cost a student up to
$200. “We do not have the funds
to subsidize this. Right now it’s
just an awareness campaign,”
Jekanowski said.
The resolution was authored
by Domino, who became involved
with this issue after hearing about

the rise in the prevalence of STIs
on college campuses.
“The idea popped into my
head when I heard news about STI
testing on campus,” Domino said.
“I had heard from several sources
that because the BC community is
composed of mostly higher socioeconomic students, this has led
to a psychological persona that
STIs are less likely. The opposite
is true.”
Domino said that this resolution makes an appeal to students
and the BC community. “We need
people to be more responsible to
themselves and their community
and get tested.” n

A6

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Heights

Editorials

Reviewing the case

The Hearing Board has been experimenting with a new approach
this year, and we hope that it will consider its process carefully.
In the past few weeks, The Heights has
published a series focusing on the perpetration and punishment of sexual assault
on campus. In an article in today’s issue,
administrators explained the inner workings of the Administrative Hearing Board,
an on-campus body that reviews a range of
disciplinary cases, including alleged cases
of assault on campus. This board is made
up of administrators, faculty, and a student
member – with the latter two having been
added this year – who hear and determine
responsibility in situations of assault.
We feel that it is of the utmost importance that the process in which this board
handles assault cases be transparent to the
student body, who will look to this board for
support in crisis situations. Although the
addition of a student to the board may help
to bring a student perspective to the proceedings, we fear that students who have
been assaulted may hesitate to come forward if a member of the student community
is present, concerned that their personal
story will spread outside of the Hearing
Board. If even one student is discouraged
from seeking help because of these fears,
then the board has failed. This new aspect
needs to be carefully monitored.
Although this board does not function
as a court, it does determine responsibil-

ity and recommend punishments, so on a
basic level, the process is the same. Students who commit crimes on this campus,
be it as frequent as underage drinking or
as serious as physical assault, are held to
extremely different standards of discipline
than would be the case outside the boundaries of Boston College. One only needs
to look at the Alcohol Matrix to see that
the system of punitive and educational
responses is extremely complex, and the
decisions of administrators about how to
correctly handle these incidents is fraught
with challenges.
That being said, there is often too much
of a focus among administrators to create teachable moments where they may
not exist. Although we are all students at
this University, when we commit a violent
crime against another student, we give
up that protection, we have violated the
social contract that we entered into upon
enrolling. If the Hearing Board is capable
of assigning responsibility, then it is just
as capable of administering punishment,
as it should. To create a safer community,
the Office of the Dean of Student Development, which oversees the board, needs
to uphold and maintain certain standards
of conduct through punishment when the
situation necessitates it.

Intelligent design

In order to foster a more connected community, those crafting
building designs need to take into account their use of space.
As preliminary work continues for
the construction of Stokes Hall and the
University looks ahead to other projects,
we would like to reflect momentarily on
what, on a day-to-day basis, makes a
building not just good, but excellent.
Fulton Hall is one of the best-designed buildings on campus in this regard. Ample covered spaces at the front
and rear of the building encourage students to take cover there when it rains.
Study areas and the Honors Library
invite students to linger in areas where
large glass windows draw in both natural
light and passersby without making one
feel exposed.
Higgins Hall also displays a certain
purpose and forethought. The building
and its purpose are clearly intertwined,
and instead of just being a place where
teaching occurs, it, in its very design,
fosters a cross-disciplinary approach
that is the life blood of the sciences.
The large open spaces at the center of
the building are cut by walkways, allowing one to look to other levels, to other
places where learning is happening, and

beyond one’s self. There is nothing more
appropriate to a science building than
that it incorporate a sense of how optics
relate to human well-being.
We also know that there are plans
to incorporate the design priorities we
suggest into Stokes Hall. The coffee bar,
sitting areas, outdoor plaza, and access
from College Road will do much to make
Stokes a vibrant and active building.
What we are encouraging is a sense of
design that is rooted in the human as a
being that flourishes in the liberal arts.
Among those many arts is architecture,
and an appreciation of that should be
demonstrated physically.
We hope that, as construction moves
forward, some thought is given to these
priorities, which could be easily lost in
the hectic activity of a construction site.
A good building is one that fulfills certain needs. An excellent building is one
built with the people who will inhabit it
in mind, and which accommodates both
the needs of a top university as well as
the smaller, less ambitious activities and
undertakings of daily life.

State of the Heights

The UGBC has been making an effort to attract more students to
the event, and these topics will attract the most questions.
Last Wednesday, the Undergraduate
Government of Boston College (UGBC)
hosted the second installment of its
State of the Heights speaker series with
an event that featured BC Police Chief
John King, who spoke about revamped
security measures on campus. In an effort to draw a larger audience, the UGBC
restructured the State of the Heights
this year, which used to be held once
a year, as a series of town hall-style
meetings with various administrators on
campus who address specific issues.
This revitalized program shows
promise. While the State of the Heights
in its previous form struggled with attendance issues, the new seminars have
enjoyed large audiences and increased
interaction between students and administrators, UGBC organizers said. But
with this newfound audience, the UGBC
must give greater consideration to the
issues addressed at these meetings.
Not the least among these issues should
be GLBTQ relations on campus. As members of an institution that prides itself
on being among the world’s top Catholic
universities, the administration, through

this student-organized outlet, should
demonstrate its willingness to accommodate GLBTQ students on campus.
The UGBC should also invite members
of The Office of Residential Life to speak
on the future of off-campus housing. University officials have said that, as the University’s Institutional Master Plan (IMP)
progresses, the University will move toward
accommodating 100 percent of students on
campus. Moving off campus is an important
step for many juniors. A discussion on the
elimination of off-campus housing would
draw more students to the event.
Other topics to explore would be
the future of late night programming,
the structure and practices of medical
services on campus, and how the University’s switch to a credit system will affect
student registration processes.
We believe that the UGBC’s move
to expand the State of the Heights was
beneficial to the student body. As the
organization moves forward with this
program, it should consider these ideas
that we feel to be of concern to both
students and administrative figures
on campus.

The Heights
The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College
Established 1919
Matthew DeLuca, Editor-in-Chief
John O’Reilly, General Manager
Darren Ranck, Managing Editor

Contributors: Mollie Kolosky

Matt Laud/ Heights Illustration

Letters to the Editor
Invitation to a concert of thanksgiving
Readers of last week’s Heights were confronted by
an unusual letter to the editor: a question about the
responsible use of space at Boston College wrapped in
a vitriolic screed against an individual professor. The
article poses a challenge for me, its target. The challenge for me as a human being is to respond to such
strong negative feelings with compassion: The challenge for me as a faculty member is to find the “teachable moment” in all this.
So let me begin by sharing some information with
Heights readers. Faculty encourage reasoning from
evidence, and last week’s piece provided no information about the event whose sponsorship the author
so deplores.
The event in question is a cello concert. Both the cellist and the cello have very special histories.
The instrument is a concert quality cello, apparently
the counterpart of a Stradivarius in the world of cellos.
It was owned by a Jewish music lover who helped found
the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Upon her recent
death, her children donated the cello to the New England Conservatory of Music. The Conservatory, in turn,
allows their best cello student each year to hone his or
her skills on this superb instrument.
The lucky and talented student this year is Shaheen
Lavie-Rouse, an Israeli of Yemeni descent who considers
himself an Arab-Israeli. In his very existence he embodies the hopes of two peoples to share one land and one
future. He is every bit as much a “real” Israeli as any
African-American is a “real” American. Out of gratitude
for the gift of the cello, he volunteered to give a concert
to support work dear to the donors. And, in a gesture of
good will, a Palestinian qanun player from the Berkelee
School of Music is joining in the contemporary music
part of the program.
As a result, the BC community is invited to a
fundraising concert, to be held in the Cabaret Room,

Sunday, Nov. 14, 2 - 4 p.m. The charges are modest:
$10 for students and $35 for adults. The purpose of the
fundraiser is to support two projects: An Israeli organization (Physicians for Human Rights-Israel) and the
annual Health and Human Rights trip of American Jews
for a Just Peace (AJJP). The purpose of the HAHRP trip
is to help Americans – usually Jewish, usually younger
professionals, (largely doctors, lawyers, social workers, but this year also a dancer who wishes to work with
children) – to travel to Israel and Palestine, to offer their
services in demonstration clinics and classes, and to
learn from their travels.
The sponsoring organization, AJJP, takes the
position that international humanitarian law must
be the platform for any just and lasting resolution of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. AJJP makes its point
through educational efforts, through promoting travel
and witnessing in the Holy Land, and by any other nonviolent means that call attention to the fact that justice
is the key to peace. In its stance, AJJP resembles the
American civil rights movements of an earlier generation. AJJP has asked to use the Cabaret Room because
many of its members earlier attended the screening
of Little Town of Bethlehem (a film also dedicated to a
non-violent and just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict) and were delighted by the beauty and welcome
of our campus.
This concert falls at the beginning of a season of
thanksgiving, celebration, and joy, whether for the birth
of a savior, a deliverance from danger, or the coming
of the winter solstice after which the light grows ever
stronger. I invite the BC community to open this season
with a concert that celebrates music, learning, and justice. I urge you to come and decide for yourself who are
the naysayers and who are the healers.
Eve Spangler
Associate Professor in the Sociology Department

A reflection on the priority of sports
Don’t get me wrong – I like sports. Playing them is
fun and watching can be exhilarating! Sports allow us to
play out the tribal warfare of our ancestors and support
our regional ties. What I don’t like is A.) drunk freshmen kneeing me in the back in the cheap seats, B.) my
Catholic schoolmates chanting “you suck” to the other
team and individual players alike, and C.) the amount
of money spent on promoting sports in contrast to the
undergrad-level printing allowance from the University I
receive as a doctoral student.
I understand that sports make a lot of money for
Boston College, and that the Connell School of Nursing
does not, which justifies BC to spend a lot of money on
making money (they say the rich keep getting richer?). I
expect this sort of prioritization from most universities,
but at a school built on Jesuit principles, I’m honestly
surprised at the disparity in the support for sports and
the academic disciplines, such as nursing, social work,
and ministry, that are dedicated to serving the needs of
people in Catholic tradition.
I’m happy to pay $4 for a hot dog at Conte Forum (which is quite a nice facility, really), and in fact I
expected to pay more. While I don’t expect to make BC

much if any money by my nursing research, I think I’m in
a Division I school of nursing. I wish that I, like a Division I student athlete, had a full package so I could focus
on my research, not loans, health insurance, and those
distasteful details of real life. The next time you have a
bad time in the health care system, consider whether it’d
be a better investment to allocate some of the funding
from extras in sports such as video promotions played
during the men’s hockey game into supporting doctoral
students doing clinical research in health care delivery.
Sure, dissertation defenses don’t bring out masses of
wealthy alums, but I’m certain that slowly but surely,
my colleagues and I are laboring in hope of embodying the Jesuit values of improving the well-being of our
fellow people. And for that, I think we doctoral students
should at the very least get a bigger printing allowance
than undergrads.
So I’m a fan, not a Superfan – I don’t have time to
achieve that level of fandom. I do hope, however, that
BC is a Superfan of my colleagues and me as we fight
the good fight to protect this house, and all the people,
regardless of what jersey they wear.
Anna Paskausky

The Heights welcomes Letters to the Editor not exceeding 200
words and column submissions that do not exceed 700 words for
its op/ed pages.
The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right
to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces

submitted to the newspaper.
Submissions must be signed and should include the author’s
connection to Boston College, address, and phone number. Letters
and columns can be submitted online at www.bcheights.com, by email to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The
Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

Thumbs
Up
TML – Looking for a respite
from the crowds in Bapst?
Need a change of scenery
from the daily doldrums in
O’Neill? Then the Theology and Ministry Library is
the place for you! Get away
from it all in exotic Brighton Campus, conveniently
located 50 yards away from
Lower Campus (accessible by
foot). This library has it all:
books, chairs, cozy nooks,
even vending machines! Book
your stay before the finals
season rush.
Cupcakes – Look out, doughnut. You’ve got some serious
competition. Cupcake boutiques have sprinkled the city
with their tasty presence and
students are taking advantage. Even BC Dining is trying
to fit the mold by offering a
“create your own cupcake”
station in McElroy. This sweet
trend is literally the frosting
on the cake.
Veterans – For the land of the
freeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and the
home of the brave. (Play ball!)
Mrs. O – Michelle, my belle.
The lovely first lady has been
taking India by storm (unlike
what usually takes India by
storm … actual devastating
storms). Be it dancing with
schoolchildren or meeting
with dignitaries, she’s saving her husband’s slipping
approval rating one J.Crew
ensemble at a time.
Coco – From mechanized
moons to giant nutcrackers,
Conan is back on late night,
and his loyal audience will be
giving Stewart, Letterman,
and the devil himself, Leno, a
run for their money. TU/TD
has only one suggestion for
the gangly ginger’s success:
Stop whining about being
fired. You’re rehired. Time to
move on.

Thumbs
Down
Hot water – As a frequent tea
drinker, TU/TD was thrilled
to see the playing field being
leveled with the installation
of a hot water dispenser in
Hillside. That commendation
being given, however, we were
most displeased when we went
to fill up our (environmentally
conscious) reusable mug and
found that the dispenser was
too short and stout to adequately function as a tea pot.
A for effort, though.
Stapler – Not all staplers, mind
you, only a very specific and
devilishly tricky one, namely
the O’Neill print station behemoth, is deserving of our dissatisfaction. Besides TU/TD’s
completely justified fear of this
beast stapling our fingers, this
automated nightmare manages to correctly perform its
sole function an astounding 0
percent of the time. Call me old
fashioned, but perhaps mechanizing every conceivable item is
not necessary.
Registration times – Excited for classes next semester? That’s great! That means
you’re either a senior or one of
the few lucky ones who were assigned, completely arbitrarily,
pick times that offer even the
faintest glimmer of hope.
Webmail – BC’s very own
e-mail system is wonderful,
particularly the student shot
photos that greet visitors on
the welcome page. TU/TD has
one qualm with this system,
being that when it becomes
full, a completely natural occurrence for a busy and techsavvy student, there is no
warning system for students
who are cut off from society.

A tax with substance
ety to ensure alcoholic addicts get the
treatment they need, but even if you
agree with this assessment, alcohol has
an unavoidable impact on our society.
Working at a courthouse, I see victims
of alcohol-induced rages, drunkdriving charges, and crimes carried
out while under the influence. These
Hayley Trahan-Liptak
people are placed in detox facilities at
Your weekend just got cheaper.
the state prison, provided resources to
When you return after Winter Break,
pay their time, and they avoid comyou can head down to the liquor store
mitting the crime again. Without those
for a few cases of beer or go out for
resources, recidivism would likely be
drinks, and your biggest concern will
higher and the number of alcohol-rebe the creepy guy at the end of the bar lated court cases would continue to
– not the exorbitant tab you’ve racked
increase. Individual abuse of alcohol
up. Thanks to the passage of Question
intersects with society’s interests in
One on the Massachusetts Ballot last
the public sphere every day, and so
week, Jan. 1, 2011, marks the end of
providing programs and services for
the sales tax on alcohol. So get ready
these abusers is essentially a way of
to party, because a case of beer will
protecting both the abusers and socicost you about a dollar less.
ety as a whole.
While Massachusetts voters smartly
Not only did we succeed at cutting
decided against cutting the state-wide
out essential programs, we are also
general sales tax on all products, they
sending a message about alcohol – by
chose instead to repeal the tax on alcostate standards it is a necessity. For
hol. The elimination of the tax means
many college students, alcohol as a
that the $110
necessity may ring
million that would
true, but think
Individual abuse of alcohol about yourself as
come solely from
alcohol sales will
a kid in a grocery
intersects with society’s
be obliterated from
or a young
interests in the public sphere store,
the state budget.
parent filling your
That may sound
every day, and so providing shopping cart on
like just a big
programs and services for these a limited budget,
number, but for the
trying to make
abusers is essentially a way good choices for
substance abuse
programs that
of protecting both the abusers yourself and your
receive the money,
children. Food
and society as a whole.
it represents a
and clothing in
lifeline, a second
Massachusetts are
chance, and, in
seen as necessisome cases, the entirety of a program’s
ties, commodities essential for living.
budget. Without the extra money, which Now alcohol is added to the very short
is earmarked specifically for substance
list of products the state deems a
abuse education and detoxification
necessity. Not on the list? Among othfacilities, programs across the state will
ers, over-the-counter medicine, any
be drastically cut.
prepared food, and household paper
With the change you can expect to
products like toilet paper. Traditionsave an extra dollar now and then, but
ally, products like tobacco and alcohol
you can also expect to hear of more
have luxury taxes affixed to them, but
drunk drivers, fewer facilities for those
the change in the law tells consumwho want to make the transition to
ers that to the state, alcohol isn’t a
sobriety, and more people suffering
luxury – it is more of a necessity than
from alcoholism. Many people argue
medicine and toilet paper.
that it isn’t the responsibility of sociThe campaign to repeal the tax was

funded by beer giants like AnheuserBusch and the Beer Distributors of
Massachusetts, and a total of $2.5
million was invested in advertising to
“Vote Yes” on Question One. Liquor
stores in Massachusetts, especially
those near the New Hampshire border,
claimed the tax was infringing on
sales, as customers traveled over the
border into New Hampshire for their
tax-free liquor. Some storeowners
have stated a need to cut back hours
and, in some cases, lay off employees
due to the loss in sales. But the claim
that the tax was hurting the economy
has little basis. There were no reports
of stores forced to close due to lack
of business. Even if some liquor store
jobs were lost, the tax revenue created its own set of new positions and
contributed to the economic success
of society in its own way. The services
the tax funded created jobs, and the
programs themselves were often filled
with people who otherwise would be
alone on the streets without jobs of
their own. If this was truly about the
loss of business to New Hampshire,
Massachusetts would have eliminated
sales taxes altogether in order to compete with sales-tax free New Hampshire. This wasn’t about the economy,
it wasn’t about jobs, it was about an
extra few cents in the pockets of beer
drinkers, cents that don’t add up to
anything more than a few dollars.
Our substance abuse programs in
Massachusetts used to give people
a second chance. They used to help
people dragged down by the perils
of alcohol get a step up and become
contributing members of society once
again. Now those programs are threatened with elimination. So, as you
savor your beer and the extra quarter
in your pocket, don’t think that extra
money is free. You’ll see the implications on the streets, on the corners,
and in the papers as people seeking
care are turned away because alcohol,
to drinkers in Massachusetts, is a taxfree necessity.
Hayley Trahan-Liptak is a staff columnist
for The Heights. She welcomes comments at
opinions@bcheights.com.

Coco the Triumphant

Tim O’Connor
Eleven months ago, late-night talk
junkies all across America were dealt a
stunning blow – Conan O’Brien would
be leaving The Tonight Show due to a
dispute with NBC. The timeslot had
been handed back to Jay Leno, whose
primetime variety show was performing poorly against the 10 p.m. news.
Leno supporters claim that NBC wasn’t
unreasonable and that the company offered to let Conan keep the house that
Carson built, provided he’d move it a
half hour later. Conan made a stand on
principle. The Tonight Show had been
on at 11:35 p.m. since 1954, he said, and
he would not take part in what he considered the systematic destruction of an
American institution. One hundred and
forty-six episodes after its premiere,
Conan kissed his dream job goodbye
with a mesmerizing rendition of “Free
Bird,” accompanied by the alwayscharming Will Ferrell on vocals.
As of today, Conan is back on the
air for the first time since his departure
from NBC, headlining TBS’ Conan, a
one-hour comedy / variety program
airing in the 11 p.m. block. Up against
stiff competition from Stewart, Colbert,
Letterman, and Leno himself, it remains
to be seen whether Conan’s newest
endeavor will achieve success. Longtime
second-man Andy Richter will be making the journey to TBS, though drummer Max Weinberg has opted to forgo
his position as the head of the legendary
Max Weinberg 7, now known as the The
Basic Cable Band. Likewise, the skits
and characters that Conan invented

Party
Party Time
Time BY
BYBEN
BEN VADNAL
VADNAL

while working for NBC remain the intellectual property of the station. Sorry
kids, no more Triumph, Masturbating
Bear, or La Bamba.
The odds may be stacked against
Team Coco, but true television aficionados may recall that this is not the
first incidence of late-night talk drama.
When Carson’s reign ended in 1992,
Leno exploited corporate connections and outmaneuvered Letterman,
Carson’s protegee and heir apparent,
effectively stealing The Tonight Show
from under Letterman’s nose (see the
Oscar-nominated The Late Shift for a
dramatic retelling of the story). Lettermen’s subsequent move to CBS was, and
remains, successful. Last week, Letterman defeated Leno in the ratings for the
first time ever, though Stewart topped
both of them. Since his return, Leno’s
popularity has been steadily declining in
the 18-49 demographic, paving the way
for a Tea Party-esque takeover of the
late-night circuit.
Despite competition from Stewart
for the young and politically-savvy, I’d
be willing to wager Conan is on the cusp
of a phenomenal success. Since the end
of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,
Coco has kept up an active Twitter
presence, traveled across the nation
on his “Legally Prohibited from Being
Funny on Television” tour, grown and
shaven a beard, and chartered a blimp
to fly across the continental 48 to promote his show. He leveraged the repeatedly substantial settlement he received
from NBC to support his staff and
writers (who had moved from New York
to California to support the canceled
Tonight Show) and remains engaged with
his audience. Those who watched the
final episodes of Conan’s Tonight Show
will recall the legitimate and heartfelt
sentiment he expressed for the fans who
fought to keep his show alive, and he’s
remained loyal and connected to Team
Coco since then. Unfortunate circum-

stances brought together a disparate fan
base to unite behind a common cause,
and Conan has done his part to keep the
family that rallied around him alive.
Unfettered by the traditional talkshow format that defined The Tonight
Show, Conan will be free to exercise his
unconventional wit in a format more
suited to his strengths. Cable has an
obvious disadvantage to broadcast
television, but Conan never pulled much
support from the older crowds to begin
with. He’s our generation’s comedian,
and we will follow him to TBS (conveniently provided by ResLife on channel
37, for those of you living on campus) or
online. The day of the Nielsen ratings
has come and gone. A show’s success
today is measured by how vocal and
dedicated a fan base it maintains. Could
Leno fill the National Mall on the day
before Halloween to rally for common
sense? Heh.
Most of all, I wish Conan success for
the grace and humility with which he
handled NBC’s undignified and misguided decision. When he announced that
he’d be taking over The Tonight Show
back in 2004, he had realized the ultimate goal of his career as a comedian.
He spent five years preparing to handle
the enormous responsibility of being
America’s chief funny-man, and before
he was even given a chance to grow into
the role, it was taken away from him.
Through all this, caring for his professional family was his first and only goal
– a refreshing change of pace from the
narcissism that defines today’s celebrity
culture. His story is one of hard-earned
success, and his message, delivered
through humor, is one of perseverance
and dedication. In the words of the man
himself: “If you work really hard and
you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
Tim O’Connor is a staff columnist for
The Heights. He welcomes comments at
opinions@bcheights.com.

Truthiness
we trust

Janine Hanrahan
The notion that a vigorous free press
is a guardian of democracy is one deeply
instilled in the American psyche, due in
large part to its establishment in the Bill
of Rights. The founders firmly believed
that in order for the experiment in selfgovernment to work, the citizens had to
have all the necessary information, even
if political figures were portrayed in a
negative light as a result.
With the rise of the 24-hour news cycle and the ability to rapidly disseminate
information over the Internet, one would
imagine that Americans are in the position to know more about their government than ever before. For those citizens
that actively seek out information, this
may be the case. But for the vast majority
of us, including this here writer, we read
our newspaper of choice or flick on CNN
and expect that it will provide enough
information for us to make informed
decisions. While the press is certainly
free in America, it has little regard for
accurately representing events. Rather,
our press is driven by “truthiness.”
Truthiness is a term coined by
Stephen Colbert and defined as “truth
that comes from the gut, not books” and
“the quality of preferring concepts or
facts one wishes to be true, rather than
concepts or facts known to be true.”
It is the second part of the definition
that really makes truthiness appealing,
because it gives us license to substitute
our opinions for the facts.
An examination of the 8 p.m. time
slot on the cable news stations finds
truthiness in abundance. CNN airs
Parker Spitzer, in which Eliot Spitzer,
a Democrat, and Kathleen Parker, a
Republican, analyze current events from
their respective ideological bents. Fox
News airs The O’Reilly Factor, a time for
conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly
to give “Talking Points” and interview /
badger guests. MSNBC airs Countdown
with Keith Olbermann, in which Olbermann names the worst people in the
world (one of whom is often O’Reilly)
and goes on Edward R. Murrow-esque
tirades against anyone that threatens his
standard of decency, whether it’s George
W. Bush or Hillary Clinton.
In fact, Olbermann just recently found
himself embroiled in controversy for donating $7,200 to Democratic campaigns
without prior approval from NBC, leading to an indefinite suspension without
pay. It turns out that two days is NBC’s
equivalent to indefinitely, as Olbermann
will be back on the air after missing only
two broadcasts. Liberals were in an uproar, claiming moves like this threatened
the constitutional rights of journalists.
But Rachel Maddow, a fellow MSNBC
reporter, had this to say: “Yeah, Keith’s
a liberal, and so am I. But we’re not a
political operation – Fox is. We’re a news
operation. The rules around here are part
of how you know that.”
Undoubtedly, Fox News has a conservative bent that renders its slogan “Fair
and Balanced” essentially pointless. But
for Maddow to claim that MSNBC is
operating on another plane is ridiculous.
Maddow and Olbermann are unabashedly liberal, which comes across in their
coverage of all political events.
At this point, we might as well throw
away all pretenses to unbiased journalism. Liberals can watch MSNBC and
conservatives can content themselves
with Fox News, while both of them read
blogs that may or may not have any factual basis. Then we can boil all debates
into sound bites and pithy phrases, thus
simplifying political discourse.
Sadly, we are already at this point
and have been there for some time.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, famous for his
work on Soviet gulags, spoke to Harvard
University’s 1978 graduating class about
cultural decay in America. Labeling the
press as symptomatic of the problem, he
said, “In-depth analysis of a problem is
anathema to the press, it is contrary to
its nature. The press merely picks out
sensational formulas.” This is even truer
now than it was then, due to changes in
the media and the demand that the news
be entertaining.
It simply defies reason that America’s
political culture can be healthy in an environment in which far too many citizens
are simply tuned out and the rest are
given scraps of superficial or partisan information. Of course, the media survives
by making money, and the fact that it
does indicates that on some level, we are
enjoying this dysfunctional discourse.
Perhaps this is because truthiness is easy
and the truth, as always, is hard.
Janine Hanrahan is a staff columnist for
The Heights. She welcomes comments at
opinions@bcheights.com.

A8

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

basketball preview

thursday, november 11, 2010

The Heights

drawing up
a winner

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

New head coach
steve donahue has
a message: forget
what bc basketball used to be
see

b3

inside

the athletic reggie
jackson and dallas elmore have
a new high-powered offense to
play with

b2

conte forum welcomes its first
two freshmen
since the recruiting class of 2008
arrived

b4

after two down
seasons, big man
josh southern is
convinced he fits
donahueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s system
perfectly

b5

carolyn swords
and stefanie murphy have one goal
in mind: make their
senior year their
best one yet

b6

B2 BASKETBALLPREVIEW

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

alex trautwig / heights editor

Juniors eager for changing of the guard

Reggie Jackson and Dallas Elmore stuck around for the new offense. You won’t be sorry.
By DJ Adams
Heights Editor

T

here is something to be
said for playing basketball
in front of a jam-packed
Conte Forum. Dealing with
the immense pressure, it’s
in every great player’s repertoire. Showing off flashy dance moves for the samesized crowd at Ice Jam, though? This is
an act of courage reserved only for Dallas
Elmore and Reggie Jackson.
“We perform for what? A packed
8,606 in Conte Forum as athletes?”
Jackson boasts with a grin as Elmore
nods his head silently. “We enjoyed
ourselves, it was a fun time. And really,
I don’t think the fans were a factor out
there when we were dancing. So what if
you’re embarrassed in front of someone
you will probably never see on campus?
That’s just what we do.”
Topping women’s basketball head
coach Sylvia Crawley’s “Dougie,” on the
other hand, was a tougher task to accomplish for the two.
“Oh definitely,” Jackson replied when
asked if he had been out-performed. “Totally unexpected from the sideline, and
I really didn’t know she had that side. I
enjoyed watching it.”
“I heard she was going to do the
dunk contest with us next time,” Elmore
quipped.
“I’m really looking forward to that,”
Jackson, the reigning champ, joked about
potentially losing his title. “She’s got
a good arm’s length above the rim, so
maybe. We’ll see.”

Whatever the competition, it’s clear.
The two veteran guards that compose
the Eagles backcourt aren’t afraid of
anything. This year, especially, the men’s
basketball team is going to need that
resilience.
In the 2009-10 season, Boston College basketball lived and died by an
offense that depended upon sticking to
the gameplan. Of course, not everything
followed accordingly. The team plummeted to a 15-16 overall record, registering merely six conference wins, just one
season removed from its seventh NCAA
tournament bid in the past nine years.
After such a disappointing result,
change was inevitable, and it happened
fast. Too fast, for some.
When former coach Al Skinner was
ousted and 2010 Clair Bee Coach of the
Year Steve Donahue was hired, several
incoming recruits decommitted, and past
lettermen chose not to return to the
Heights in fear of the future and the uncertainty associated with such a drastic
rebuilding process.
“It’s kind of sad that all of our recruits
decommitted,” Jackson said. “They
didn’t really get the right feel for our
coach, and they didn’t feel like this was
best for them.”
Jackson and Elmore aren’t scared
of change, the work it requires, or the
team’s season projections. To them, there
is more to being a basketball player than
running at the first sign of trouble. The
team is a family. Unfamiliarity is present,
but they chose to stay and embrace it.
“It was more [the rest of us] sat down,
we all kind of went through our routine

alex trautwig / heights editor

Reggie Jackson and Dallas Elmore will benefit from a new system that embraces athleticism.

at the end of the season,” Jackson said.
“We felt like we were one big family, and
we all wanted to do it together, so in my
sense it didn’t ever occur to my mind that
I was ever leaving.”
“I mean, these are the guys that I’ve
played with for the past three years,”
Elmore agreed. “So I want to ride it out
with them and see how this season goes.
Who knows what is going to happen in
the future? I wanted to stay at Boston
College.”

So they stayed, and this past summer,
the transformation began.
Donahue’s offense was the first step, a
sequence entirely different from Skinner’s
flex. While the former relied on a point
guard’s successful, smooth progression of
pre-designed plays, BC’s new swagger is
dynamic, full of speed and athleticism,
and hinges on the entire team’s ability
to improvise.
“It’s fast,” Donahue said of his
scheme. “I want to make quick decisions
and I want the ball to move. I’d rather us
say we learned to play rather than run a
play. We try to read what the defense is
doing, but in the same sense, we’re trying
to do it quickly.”
As if the new offense isn’t fast enough,
the Eagles had less than a year to learn it.
At first, the lack of time was an immense
crutch toward progress, and the work
proved to be difficult.
“I think they have been really good
at coming in each day and trying to get
better,” Donahue said. “But there are
good days and bad days. This is a mental strain as much as a physical strain,
trying to teach them how we want to do
everything different. They have been
good with it, but I think it has been a
challenge, as well.
“But like everything in life, when you
want to try to do something that’s really
beneficial, it’s hard work, and there are
going to be some ups and downs.”
The new set was a welcomed challenge for Elmore and Jackson, though.
Both grew up in Colorado and happened
to run similar offenses to Donahue’s
in high school, and can’t wait to instill
that knowledge in the rest of their teammates.
“I didn’t really think it was that
big of a change for myself, because in
high school, this is the type of offense
I played,” Elmore said. “Spread-out
offense, cutting to the basket, so it was
kind of easy for me to transition into this
type of an offense.”
“[It’s] not necessarily too great of a
change in terms of athletic play,” Jackson
agreed. “I played the same style in high
school. I’m kind of used to it from AAU
ball, same thing, it’s just more getting
used to the new coach and being a point
guard in Skinner’s system, and now a
point guard in Coach Donahue’s new
system. Just a few minor adjustments,
but I’m really learning how to command
my teammates and knowing where my
teammates should be at all times.”
With not much roster depth to work
with (realistically, BC is only about seven
or eight players deep), the team looked
inward for any previous experience to
provide leadership through the learning
process. In a powerful basketball conference like the ACC, at some point, new
recruits Danny Rubin and Gabe Moton

will have to contribute if the team hopes He has no problem rolling with the tide
to have success.
of an interview or game. In fact, it is this
So again, the two veterans assumed a passive adaptability that Donahue thinks
leader’s role and assured their mentees will allow Elmore to accomplish much
that it’s about getting rid of that inherent more this season on the court.
freshman fear.
“I think he is a type of guy that we
“Basically, we [have to] mentor could throw in anywhere,” the coach
them,” Jackson said. “You got to take claimed. “I don’t worry about it. He
a couple bumps and bruises and falls. might have to play the four at times, and
Purposefully, I know it sounds bad, but he handles the ball like a point guard at
sometimes when they get the ball in prac- times. I think he knows his role, as well.
tice, I hack them just because. Just to It’s important that he doesn’t try to do
welcome them to the league, and let them too much. He knows to go after balls and
know that, yeah, the ACC is one of the make the extra pass, and if he’s open and
most athletic conferences in the league, his feet are set, to shoot it.”
but our conference is
When it comes
nitty and gritty also,
to wo r k e t h i c ,
“We felt like we were one
and they have to be
though, no one
ready.”
possesses more
big family, and we all
“Teaching them to
than the quiet
wanted to do it together, so fire
not back down from
one himself.
any competition that
“What I did
in my sense it didn’t ever
you’re in,” Elmore
in the offseason,
occur to my mind that I
said of his philosoI worked really
was ever leaving.”
phy. “You may be the
hard on trying to
shortest guy, you may
stay conditioned,”
be the lightest guy on
Elmore said. “I
—Reggie Jackson
the team, but don’t
knew that Coach
Starting Guard
ever back down from
Donahue’s [style]
any competition. Use
was going to be
your athleticism. You are here for a rea- more of an up-tempo speed. So I had to
son, so do what you got to do.”
work on my conditioning, work on my
shot, because I knew that was necessary.
I worked on my 3-pointer, my 15-footer,
Jackson and Elmore preach the same and learning to drive aggressively. With
mantra. They hail from the same state. my body size, getting into the weight
They even both know how to relax and room was key. I should be able to finish
have fun, evidenced by their latest Ice the ball and go strong to the rim.”
Jam groove.
Too many teams focus on one aspect
It’s how they differ, though, that in their guards. Quickness, athleticism,
bodes incredibly well for the Eagles on decision-making.
the court.
It is Jackson and Elmore’s bold mix of
Jackson provides the energy and similarities and differences, though, that
confidence needed in every point guard’s comprises such a dangerous backcourt
genes. It’s why he has his own fan section, for the Eagles.
Reggie’s Veggies, and his No. 0 is a favorite among fan apparel. As he talks about
his role on the team, his answers reveal
The thought of a team embattled with
deep reflection and passion. Something issues is a dangerous one that Jackson
he certainly brings to the parquet Conte and Elmore understand is a possibility
floor.
for BC this season, but a notion they have
“I feel I have always been a player refused to acknowledge since the change
where I felt that I can take whatever I began for this program last spring.
want at any given time,” Jackson said.
“I’ve been told since I was young,
“With my athletic ability that God never be nervous. Be anxious,” Jackson
blessed me with, and my height, I can get said. “I mean, it’s okay to have a little
where I want to on the court at any given butterflies, but if you are nervous, you’re
time. But definitely, being a complete, worried because you aren’t prepared. If
all-around player. Coach came in, and you are anxious, you know what you’re
that’s the first thing he helped me de- ready to do and what you are capable
velop. He helped me refine my [outside] of.
shot, by not just dropping the ball. Just
“So, I’m not really nervous about
taking out my hitch and making a more anything. I mean, the only thing I may
smooth shot. It’s paid off.”
be nervous about is if we will all be here
His head coach would agree.
ready to play on Nov. 12, or if that day
“His outside shot, to me, has im- will ever get here.”
proved immensely from what I saw on
Tomorrow, that day is finally here.
film, and he’s worked on it,” Donahue And after succeeding through months of
said. “Obviously, Reggie brings a lot of change, hard work, and uncertainty, fear
other things, intangibles, to the game. is the last thing these guards want to lose
He’s learned to play how we want to play. to. In fact, overcoming such adversity is
He really shares the ball. He rebounds so what motivates Jackson to believe BC
well. He does a lot of things rather than can strive for something big this season,
just score the points.”
despite what skeptics might think.
What does this leave for Elmore to
“Right now, I am very optimistic,”
do? That seems to be the question when Jackson said. “I mean, I feel like there
the two are together in person, even. is no one on our schedule that we can’t
Reggie, the outspoken one, dominates beat. I’m not worried. I’m not looking
the conversation, while Dallas is left to past anybody.”
add a reticent “Well said.”
There it was once again. “Well said,”
His entire collegiate career, Elmore Elmore added.
played the quiet role with ease, averaging
Maybe now, it’s the rest of the ACC that
just 15.9 minutes per game last season. has something to be nervous about. n

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Heights

BASKETBALLPREVIEW B3

Taking His Time

After 26 years, Steve Donahue isn’t going to waste his shot in the ACC
By Zach Wielgus
Sports Editor

S

teve Donahue is running
late. A group of reporters
sits in a lush conference
room, armed with inquiries
about how Boston College’s
first new basketball coach since 1997
will revamp a program that slumped
to a losing record in 2009. Assistant
coaches pleasantly stop in to introduce
themselves, offering strong handshakes
and a sincere welcome. But the man with
the answers is nowhere to be found.
With a gust of wind behind him,
Donahue turns the corner and veers into
the conference room. Dressed comfortably in a BC basketball sweatpants and
sweatshirt ensemble, Donahue plops
down at the head of the table before
offering an unexpected apology.
“Sorry guys, time got away from me
a bit,” he said with a lighthearted, but
weary smile.
There’s an understanding that Donahue has been uttering those words a
lot lately. The former Cornell coach has
raced around Chestnut Hill and blazed
a new recruiting trail since being hired
to replace Al Skinner on April 6. He had
to stock a cupboard left nearly bare due
to zero recruits in 2008 or 2009, and he
had to uproot a family after a 10-year
stay in Ithaca, N.Y.
For Donahue, time has been of the
essence. At the expense of a few more
gray hairs in his bespeckled brown crew
cut, though, the invitation to an ACC
program was everything the Philadelphia native had been waiting for.
“When you get into any kind of
business, you want to achieve at the
highest level,” Donahue said. “To have
the opportunity to win a national championship, that’s the motivation professionally. I was very concerned I wouldn’t
have that opportunity.”
Now that he’s here, Donahue isn’t
going to waste any time.
Cornell still needed Donahue last
season, and he still needed his program.
After pouring nine years into the Big
Red, Donahue finally had the right mix
to not only grab a third straight Ivy
League title but also make a run into
the NCAA tournament. Teams had come
calling, but none of the caliber of BC, so
Donahue wasn’t listening.
“Nothing like this came up that year,”
he said. “There were some opportunities
I quickly squashed, and I would never do
that to Cornell.”
Even if a big-name program made
an offer?
“Wow, that’s a heck of a hypothetical,” Donahue said with a relieved smile.
“I was really hoping that it wouldn’t, so I
didn’t pursue anything at all. I’ll leave it
at that – I’m so glad it didn’t. In a lot of
ways, it was an unbelievable experience
that I would have really regretted missing. What we went through to get there
and not to see it through would have
been extremely disappointing.”
Donahue took Cornell for the ride of
its life, guiding them to the Sweet 16 for
the first time in school history. But now,
that’s all it is – history. Two decades in
the Ivy League (he also spent 10 years
at the University of Pennsylvania as an
assistant coach) and a close-knit college community that worshiped him
beckoned Donahue back to Ithaca for
a chance at another phenomenal run.
When Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo called, however, Donahue had
a chance at the best of both worlds: an
Ivy League-quality institution with an
ACC-caliber basketball program.
“I would have stayed at Cornell,” Donahue admitted. “They did everything
they could to make me feel wanted, and
I can’t say enough about that. But when
it came down to it, I consider this an Ivy
school in the ACC.
“I watch students, I see how important education is here, I see how
challenging it is and the amount of applicants we get, and the cross-reference
of students thinking about this school
and the Ivies. It doesn’t feel any different. It feels like I’m coaching the same
type of kid.”
It may be the same type of kid, but
the transition into his new position
was not a smooth one. Rakim Sanders
and Evan Ravenel opted to transfer,
and recruits Brady Heslip, Kevin Noreen, and Papa Samba Ndao all chose
to decommit after Skinner was fired.
That left Donahue with no freshmen or
sophomores, a thin frontcourt, and a
lingering expectation to improve upon
last year’s 15-16 finish.
What could have been, however, isn’t
on Donahue’s mind.
“A couple guys left the program, and
they probably didn’t want to buy into
my program,” Donahue said, leaving
it at that.
What Donahue is concerned about
is remodeling the personality of the

As the Eagle flies

New head coach Steve Donahue spent 26 years after his graduation from Ursinus College
in Collegeville, Pa., to get to BC, stopping at two Ivy League schools along the way.

mollie kolosky / heights graphic

team, a task that starts off the court. He
brought in vocal seniors Chris Kowalski,
a former baseball player, and John Cahill,
as walk-ons. He is leaning on veteran
returners Josh Southern, Reggie Jackson, and Biko Paris to lead by example,
embodying the new coach’s commitment
to involvement in the student body and
community service.
“The personality of the team is much
different,” Donahue said. “We helped
out this season for ticket sales, and enjoyed that experience. Ice Jam was fun.
But I also try to do little things. I tell
them, ‘Don’t sit in the back row like the
typical athlete with your hoodie on and
hang out.’ Be personable and reach out
to everybody.”
He is bent on changing the culture
that existed under the old regime, but
that doesn’t mean Donahue believes he
knows his Eagles as well as he knew his
kids at Cornell. Realistically, he recognizes, that will come with time, and he
appreciates the work it takes to truly get
to know one of his players. And it is work
he believes must be done in order for him
to succeed as a coach.
“You hear coaches say things that
they’re really close to their guys, but that
takes time,” Donahue said. “It would
be kind of foolish for me to say, ‘Yeah,

I’m really tight with these guys.’ We are
trying to, and we want them to know we
are there for them. We are here any time
they want to come. If they want to work
on their game, we’re here.
“Caring more about other things
besides basketball – like getting them
involved and sitting and talking with
them about their families and what
they’re going through – for me, that’s
how I feel closer to a team. It makes

“I tell them, ‘Don’t sit in the
back row like the typical
athlete with your hoodie on
and hang out.’”
—Steve Donahue
Head Coach
me a better coach. I’m not one who can
coach because a guy can make shots. I
need to know him. I need to know what
he’s going through. I need to feel an
emotional bond. That’s what I had at
Cornell. I did. But now I have to start
from scratch, and I can’t expect it to
feel that way now.”

But he is absolutely going to put the
time in to get there.
The move to BC was a dream come
true, but the toll it is taking on his family is not nearly as sunny. A father of
four kids, all between the ages of 8 and
14, Donahue asked his family to leave
the home and Cornell community it
had come to cherish and start over in
Chestnut Hill.
“You read about coaches who change
jobs, as I did, but I never knew how difficult it was,” Donahue said. “It’s really
hard. It’s hard to uproot four kids from
three different schools, to leave their
friends, it’s hard. That part, the personal
side, has been way more difficult than the
basketball side.”
Donahue faces the added difficulty
of raising an autistic son who, though
considered highly functioning, struggles
socially, making the move to an entirely new environment that much more
frightening. While at Cornell, Donahue
heard about the story of Jason McElwain
– J-Mac to his friends – a highly autistic
high school student from Rochester, N.Y.,
who lived his dream and played during
his high school’s division title game.
J-Mac didn’t just play, he dropped 20

points, including six 3-pointers, before
being carried off the court by an ecstatic
student body.
“When we came across J-Mac, we
were struggling with our son, especially
socially,” Donahue reflected. “That’s the
hardest part with any disorder like that.
He’s going to read and learn and be able
to be functional, but to be accepted with
others is the difficult part. What struck
me with that story was how he was loved
by all his classmates and how they ran
on the floor – it was unbelievable to me.
It was hard for me not to get emotional,
because that’s my biggest fear with my
son.”
Between Donahue’s son and J-Mac,
the Cornell basketball team learned
about and helped raise awareness for
autism, which Donahue hopes he can
bring to BC. That’s the thing with the
Eagles’ new head coach: he wants to
intertwine family and basketball. He can
help his family acclimate to life in Boston
by including them in BC basketball, and
he can help his basketball team by incorporating the idea of family into every
aspect of the game.
There are already plans to meet with
Autism Speaks, an organization based
in New England that is devoted to increasing awareness and raising research
funds to learn about the disorder, and
the basketball team will have a chance
to volunteer its time there.
“We’re fortunate to be in this situation where we can make an impact on
different people, and our team is privileged enough to have that opportunity
that they should take advantage of it,”
Donahue said.
While many head coaches are active
in community service, few are willing to
devote the time to creating a familial
atmosphere, especially at the expense of
talent. Donahue is one of those coaches,
though, convinced that team chemistry
trumps individual athleticism.
“We passed on kids that people probably think are more talented and took
kids we think are the right fit for Boston
College and our basketball program,” he
admitted with no hint of shyness. “I want
these guys to feel like this is a family.
Not only that, I want them to be a good
father and be a husband and show them
how all of us interact with our wives.
This isn’t life or death, this is supposed
to be fun.”
The recruiting assets now at Donahue’s
disposal, most notably full athletic scholarships, have changed, but his mentality
has not. He is in the business for piecing
together a perfect puzzle, searching for
the personalities and interests that mesh
with his program, just as he did recruiting
under the academic constraints of the Ivy
League for 20 years.
“Recruiting in the Ivy League has
made me a much better recruiter, in
terms of evaluating players,” Donahue
said. “We have an enormous amount of
connections that I wouldn’t have had
in 20 years. I had to meet thousands of
coaches to get four players, and that’s
not the case here. The more challenging
part is making decisions. I really have to
pick, ‘Is Player A better than Player B?’
because I can get them both.”
It may sound unconventional, but
Donahue has been in the business for a
long time. He knows what he’s doing.
A lot has changed in the last seven
months. Fan pep rallies in the Dustbowl,
supporting the first-ever Ice Jam, and a
much more open atmosphere surrounding the men’s basketball team have all
arrived with Steve Donahue.
All of this progress has gone on behind
the scenes. But when the new coach unveils his product tomorrow in the season
opener, that, too, will look very different
from the tight and fixed flex offense of
the last decade.
“It’s fast,” Donahue said of his offense. “I want to make quick decisions.
I want the ball to move. We try to read
what the defense is doing, but in the same

“You read about coaches
who change jobs, as I did, but
I never knew how difficult it
was. It’s really hard.”
—Steve Donahue
Head Coach

nick rellas / heights staff

sense, do it quickly. I’m not caught up
with shooting too many threes in that
game or not enough. We utilize what
the defense gives us and rely on the kids
making quick decisions.”
In essence, Donahue wants results.
He doesn’t care how many sharp passes
or missed shots it takes to get there. It
worked to perfection at Cornell, and he
is confident it will here.
After two decades in the Ivy League,
it’s about time he got his chance. n

B4 BASKETBALLPREVIEW

The Heights

thursday, November 11, 2010

“Then that same week, Donahue just randomly called me and was like, ‘I need a point guard.’” — Gabe Moton

The First Fresh Faces

After two years without recruits, Moton and Rubin start a new era
By Maegan O’Rourke
Assoc. Sports Editor

L

ooking over the roster of last year’s Boston
College men’s basketball team, there is one
thing that is noticeably absent.
Freshmen.
After former head coach Al Skinner brought in
three players from the Class of 2008, there were no
new incoming freshmen from the Class of 2009, as
Skinner chose to save the scholarships for the next
year, which resulted in the lack of freshmen on the
2009-2010 team.
Enter Danny Rubin and Gabe Moton.
The two are Boston College’s first recruits since
2008, the debut recruiting class of new head coach
Steve Donahue. Rubin and Moton may not have taken
the most traditional path to their place as Eagles,
but they are the torchbearers for the beginning of
the basketball program Donahue is building at the
Heights.
Danny Rubin and Gabe Moton appear to be just
like any other normal freshmen on BC’s campus. Take
away the gray Under Armour athletics gear, and the
two could easily be mistaken for average residents
of Upper Campus, just trying to navigate their way
from Fenwick to Fulton. But what sets the two apart
from the rest of the Class of 2014 is that they will
play important roles on the basketball court for the
Eagles this season, as two of the team’s eight scholarship players.
Rubin, who hails from Chevy Chase, Md., was
raised in a basketball family. His father, Steven,
played at the University of Rhode Island, while his
brother Alex, who is three years older, played at
Williams College.
“I was always going to my brother’s games since I
was really little,” Rubin said. “I probably started when
I was in first grade.
“I used to work out with my brother every day, so
I always wanted to beat him in shooting, so I model
after my brother.”
As Rubin’s skill and height grew, the 6-foot-6
guard played competitively for Team Takeover, an
AAU team based in Washington, D.C. Rubin played
high school ball at the Landon School in Bethesda,
Md., where he made varsity as a sophomore and
served as team captain his senior year. During his
senior campaign, Rubin recorded 52 3-pointers, while
averaging 18 points per game.
Moton, on the other hand, comes to the Eagles
from St. Petersburg, Fla., where he lived after he
was born in Memphis, Tenn. Moton, too, picked up
basketball at a young age.
“My dad put a ball in my hands when I was little,”

Moton said. “I probably started playing organized
[basketball] when I was 7.”
Moton, who stands at 6-foot-2, played AAU for
the Florida Gulf Coast Rams program and has played
point guard for almost his entire career.
“Yeah … wait, no,” Moton laughed when asked
if he had always played guard. “When I first started
playing AAU, I was playing a big man, when I was
like 9 and under.”
Even if he spent his earlier days in the frontcourt,
Moton went on to star in the backcourt for St. Petersburg High, playing on the varsity team since his
freshman year. He was a two-time captain for the
Green Devils, and averaged 17 points, seven rebounds,
and five assists his senior season.
By the time April of their senior years rolled around,
neither Rubin nor Moton had Boston College on the
radar. But that would change with Donahue’s arrival.
Most Division I college players know their destination by the start of their senior season. For Rubin
and Moton, though, their path to BC was slightly
less traditional.
Both players were recruited by Donahue while he
was still the head coach of Cornell University. As the
recruiting process went on, their contact with Cornell
waned as the two explored different options, until
Donahue was hired by BC in the beginning of April.
Donahue said that he and his assistants spent
hours reviewing hundreds of transfers and freshmen
who were still unsigned. Donahue stated that he even
had a few players visit the campus to whom he later
declined to offer a scholarship. The coach emphasized
that finding a quality kid was just as important as
finding one with skills on the court, which came out as
he got to know the players he was recruiting. Luckily
for Donahue, Rubin and Moton were still available.
“I didn’t know he was coming here, and I was still
in the process of finding a school,” Rubin said. “He
called me out of the blue pretty much.”
With Rubin locked down, Donahue turned his
attention to adding another player. By the time Donahue called Moton in May, the guard had already
verbally committed to the Air Force Academy, but
Donahue persuaded him to visit Chestnut Hill.
“I had already visited, just committed [to Air
Force],” Moton said. “Then that same week, Donahue just randomly called me because he had been
recruiting me at Cornell, I guess he needed a point
guard. He randomly called me and was like, ‘I need
a point guard.’
“My school was all hype because we had a big
media day for me at school. I had my Air Force stuff
on. Then after that was over, the next week I was like,
‘Yo, I’m going to Boston College.’ And everybody was
like, ‘What?’ So it was like a changing experience

nick rellas / heights staff

Though they had committed elsewhere, Gabe Moton (4) and Danny Rubin (31) chose to come to BC late in the game.

alex trautwig / heights editor

for me.”
“Both of those kids were guys we knew, great
kids, come from good families and good high school
basketball programs,” Donahue said. “I think just
knowing them like that is why we recruited them,
and I think they can both work extremely hard to be
good ACC guards.”

said. “It’s a really close team, we all feel like we’re
family.”
Many of the upperclassmen have especially
reached out to the two freshmen. Senior point guard
and captain Biko Paris has lent his advice both on
and off the court.
“Biko’s been real helpful, you know being a head
guard, he’s the same position but he’s a senior,”
Moton said. “He tells me stuff to do on the court
and off the court, like when I first got here, I didn’t
know anything. He took me and Danny to get student
IDs, housing stuff, get everything situated, go to the
Bookstore.”
Donahue has also noticed how walk-on and former
BC baseball player Chris Kowalski has helped Rubin
with the transition to BC and college in general.
“I think Chris has taken Danny under his wing,”
Donahue said. “I have Jaclyn Thoman of the women’s
team babysit, and Chris drives her over, and Danny’s
with him, paling around with him on a Friday night. I
like those things, that’s what this is about if you’re all
in this together. Those are the things that you see that
they do it naturally, they don’t try to contrive it.”

While Rubin and Moton are Donahue’s first recruits, they are also the first examples of the players
Donahue will try to recruit: good basketball players,
but good students as well.
“It’s big to what we’re trying to do in my vision
of this program,” Donahue said of recruiting quality
students. “One of the things I said to the students
early on at the rally [in April] was that these guys are
going to be one of you, we’re going to be integrated
into the student body.”
When asked why they were attracted to BC, Rubin
and Moton made it clear that the academics of BC
were just as important.
“It’s not just athletics, it’s academics,” Rubin said.
“It’s a really good academic school.”
“Good school,” Moton listed.
“Good city,” Rubin continued.
It’s difficult to predict how any freshman will fare
“Smart city, all the education in this city and this in their first college season, let alone a freshman on a
area,” Moton emphasized.
team with a completely new head coach and system.
Rubin and Moton have both proven to be students Still, BC fans got their first look at the new freshmen
in the classroom, as well as students of the game. at the Ice Jam event on Oct. 26, when Rubin beat out
Rubin, who is fluent in Spanish, talked about com- Paris to win the 3-point shooting contest. The freshpleting his homework on time along with the daily man displayed an obvious shooting stroke, which will
grind of practice. And in high
only serve as an advantage in
school, Moton was part of the
Donahue’s up-tempo offense
key club and participated in
that allows freedom from be“I think just knowing them
his school’s Role Models for
the arc.
like that is why we recruited yond
Excellence program.
In evaluating his new chargthem, and I think they can
“I think it’s important that
es, Donahue stressed how each
at Boston College, we get kids
both work extremely hard to player has a different role on
that have the same academic
the team. The new head coach
be good ACC guards.”
goals as [the students] do,”
discussed how Rubin will be
Donahue said. “I think Danny
used as a 3-point threat to
and Gabe are two of those
spread the court for players like
—Steve Donahue
guys, and the guys we’re going
Reggie Jackson to drive to the
Head Coach
to bring in next year, you’re
basket, while Moton has been
going to see, these are kids
given more ball-handling duties
that I would have recruited at
as the backup point guard.
Cornell and Penn, yet they can play in the ACC.”
“Danny has had some really good moments,”
Bringing in quality players on and off the court Donahue said. “I think he’s picked up things, how we
is just one step of building the program Donahue play, a little easier than Gabe. He’s making shots, so
envisions at BC.
you can’t leave him open, with guys like Reggie and
Biko, guys like that that can drive, then if someone
has to play him honest, it helps them.
If recruiting student-athletes is one part of
“Gabe has a lot more on his plate. Gabe has to
Donahue’s vision for BC, then the other part is handle the ball more, run the team, guard Reggie and
building a family within the program. Donahue has those guys. Danny’s been given a little more of a pass
removed last names from the backs of his team’s new with those kinds of things where his role is a lot less,
Under Armor jerseys and encourages his team to be but he’s been very effective in it.
a cohesive unit.
“They’re not going to jump out at you now in
For a team that has not been subject to any ad- this point in their careers, but if they work at it
ditions over the past two years, it may have been and given the resources of our weight room, our
difficult for Rubin and Moton to fit in. But the two coaching, and the ability to play against these types
freshmen attest that it’s been anything but.
of kids day in and day out, I think they’ll improve
“They’ve been pretty accepting of us,” Rubin to help us.” n

A look at the ACC
Maryland (24-9, 13-3 ACC)
BC fans should all shed a tear, for public enemy No.
2 (after Greg Paulus of course) Greivis Vasquez has
left for good, never to return again. Jordan Williams,
the ACC’s leading returning rebounder, will assume a more central
role, while players like Adrian Bowie, Sean Mosley, and crew will
be left to assume more of the scoring load without Vasquez and
running mate Eric Hayes in the backcourt.
Georgia Tech (23-13, 7-9 ACC)
Ever since Paul Hewitt took the Yellow Jackets to the
cusp of a title behind the immortal Luke Schenscher, it’s
been a story of flux. After a basement-dwelling year two
years ago, Georgia Tech was much improved behind the post presence
of Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. With both in the NBA, it’s now up
to the backcourt of Mfon Udofia, Iman Shumpert, and Mo Miller to
keep the Yellow Jackets from returning to the bottom of the heap.
NC State (20-16, 7-9 ACC)
Head coach Sidney Lowe may finally have the chance to
wear his shocking red blazer for some important games
come March this season. The Wolfpack have a talented
recruiting class and return three starters, including the streaky-hot
Javier Gonzalez. But the true story of this team is that they will
only go as far as senior forward Tracy Smith will take them, which
wasn’t far enough last year.

Miami (20-13, 4-12 ACC)
The Hurricanes took their lumps last season as a very
young team, but return deep around the perimeter with
Durant Scott, Malcolm Grant, and Adrian Thomas. Head
coach Frank Haith will have to dig up some big bodies inside to bang
with the Zellers, Plumlees, and Williamses of the world.

North Carolina (20-17, 5-11 ACC)
The Tar Heels, despite an NIT trip last season, still
own some of the best players in the country. Larry
Drew II looked shaky at times, but still led the ACC
in assists. Tyler Zeller is looking to assume a bigger load, and the
fragile John Henson is a year more mature.

Virginia (15-16, 5-11 ACC)
Much of the Cavaliers’ hopes this season hang on Sammy
Zeglinski. Tony Bennett has his work cut out for him. Mike
Scott was an underrated force at times, but both players
will have to take the next step for this team to do much of anything. It’s
also impossible to count out Bennett, regardless of the talent.

Virginia Tech (25-9, 10-6 ACC)
Fiery Seth Greenburg returns nearly every key contributor from a snubbed 25-9 team last season. Jeff
Allen is an underrated beast, and Malcolm Delaney
led the league in scoring. They also still have hard-to-stop Dorenzo Hudson, so the Hokies look set to actually make a run.

Florida State (22-10, 10-6 ACC)
Solomon Alabi has taken his talents to Toronto, but
his raw offensive game occasionally hurt more than it
helped. Chris Singleton is a preseason All-ACC pick,
and will get help from a backcourt of Derwin Kitchen
as well as Michael Snaer, who was raw but showed the potential to
take over games at times.

Clemson (21-11, 9-7 ACC)
The Tigers always play tough and fast, but are one
of three ACC teams to welcome a new coach. Brad
Brownell replaces Oliver Purnell after three 20-win
seasons at Wright State. Clemson will have Demontez Stitt and
Andre Young in the backcourt, but not much else.

Duke (35-5, 13-3 ACC)
Well, to be frank, Duke is very, very good. It only loses
Brian Zoubek and Jon Scheyer, but the Plumlees are both
a year older, and Steph Curry’s brother, Seth, as well as
freshman point guard Kyle Irving, join the team. Good luck stopping
Duke this year. Or getting Kyle Singler to cut his hair.

Wake Forest (20-11, 9-7 ACC)
Dino Gaudio is out, and former Nuggets coach Jeff
Bzdelik is in, and he comes east to inherit, well, not
very much of anything. The Demon Deacons have a
lot of size, including Tony Woods (6-11), Ty Walker (7-0), and Massachusetts native Carson Desrosiers (6-11), but all are still raw.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

BASKETBALLPREVIEW B5

The Heights

Donahue calls to the bullpen

By Paul Sulzer

Asst. Sports Editor

C

hris Kowalski walked into Steve
Donahue’s office one afternoon in
June with an idea. He knew the men’s
basketball team at Boston College was
shorthanded due to transfers following former coach Al Skinner’s dismissal. Donahue
had inherited a roster with only seven scholarship
players – barely enough to field a competitive
intramural team, let alone an ACC-caliber squad.
The new coach desperately needed players to fill in
the depth chart. Kowalski thought he could help,
so he knocked on Donahue’s door and introduced
himself.
“I’m thinking of walking on the team,” Kowalski
said, looking into the coach’s steel grey eyes. “What
do you think?”
“You can start,” Donahue replied, “by working
out with the guys over the summer.”
Kowalski went to the gym twice a day to relearn
how to play basketball. “Relearning how to play” is
not a phrase you hear much when walk-ons attempt
to join the varsity team. But Kowalski is not your
typical walk-on. A graduate student in the Woods
College of Advancing Studies, he played for the BC
varsity baseball team as an undergraduate. His only
experience since high school is on the courts of the
Plex, where he played in the offseason against the
wishes of former baseball coach Mik Aoki. Kowalski
obeyed Donahue’s order, though.
“I don’t think I took a day off the entire summer,” he said.
After watching Kowalski spend each day lifting
with the team in the morning and playing pick-up
games in the afternoon, Donahue pulled him aside
toward the end of the summer and offered him the
opportunity to be an Eagle again.
“I want to take you on,” the coach said. “I think
you’ll be a good influence on the team.”

Kowalski takes that praise seriously, bringing
positivity and enthusiasm to practice every day.
Within a few months of joining the team, Kowalski is already one of its biggest presences. This is
made more remarkable by the fact that, when the
Eagles face St. Francis (N.Y.) tomorrow in the season opener, he will be suiting up for his first varsity
basketball game in four years.
Is putting the burden of leadership on a player
so far removed from his competitive days a good
idea?
We’re about to find out.

The best word to describe Kowalski is gregarious,
even if it’s not the first one that comes to mind. That
word is intimidating. Measuring up at 6-foot-6, 240
pounds and sporting a buzz cut, he could pass for a
drill sergeant without a problem. Once he opens his
mouth and flashes the wide smile he almost always
has affixed to his face, though, he becomes infinitely
more approachable.
Donahue likes him for another reason – he brings
an infectious energy, one that inspires his teammates, to the court.
“Chris is such an upbeat, positive person,” Donahue said. “The guys have enjoyed having him there.
He knows how to play. He has great energy and enthusiasm. He has helped change the culture here.”
When Donahue took the job, he vowed that he
would bring enthusiasm to the program again. Kowalski is helping him do that. It starts with getting the
players excited to be a part of the team. To that end,
Kowalski has been a massive success. His teammates
have been eager to play with him from the start.
“I’ve known Chris practically since I got here,”
said senior forward Joe Trapani. “We became good
friends halfway through last year. I thought it was
great when he said he wanted to play.”
“I thought it was a really good idea, too,” added
graduate assistant Tyler Roche, who played for the

alex trautwig / heights editor

After joining the team at the end of the summer, fifth-year senior Chris Kowalski (front) is now just one of the guys.

team over the past four seasons. “We lost so many
guys from last year that we needed some bodies.
He’s a big guy who can hit the three. And he’s great
for team morale, too.”
Kowalski and Roche have been friends since
they were freshmen. They live with Trapani in BC
graduate student housing at 1850 Commonwealth
Avenue, a five-minute walk from campus.
“Chris is a one-of-a-kind roommate,” Roche
said. “He’s always telling stories and jokes.”
There’s one thing, however, he doesn’t bring to
the table as a roommate: food.
“He doesn’t do much cooking,” Roche said,
laughing. “He’s the one ordering out from Pino’s
or Presto’s.”
“I can cook a little mac and cheese,” Kowalski
said. “I let Tyler and Joe do the grilling.”
Kowalski makes up for his limited culinary
abilities by chauffeuring his teammates in his white
Infinity QX4 SUV. As one of the few players with
a car on campus, he feels it’s his responsibility to
transport his friends and teammates whenever they
need it, whether it’s picking up freshman Danny
Rubin at the airport or driving women’s basketball player Jaclyn Thoman to Donahue’s house in
Wellesley Hills to babysit the coach’s four kids on
a Friday night.
On the court, Kowalski looks out for his teammates, too. He fills whatever role the team needs
each day – comic relief, low post presence, or
leader.
“We’re always joking around,” he said. “When
it’s time to be serious, we buckle down. But we do
like to keep it light. We love laughing.”
“I don’t take it for granted,” Donahue said of
having a player like Kowalski. “It’s great that Chris
is here, especially at this time of year. We have good
days and bad days. He’s always there, ready to go.
He brings the guys up with him.”
The Seattle Mariners called Kowalski a week
after the MLB draft in June. He had gone undrafted,
but the Mariners were interested in him. They offered him a minor league contract.
He had a decision to make. Three days earlier,
he had enrolled in the Woods College of Advancing
Studies and paid his first tuition bill. Should he
drop out of school to pursue his dream of becoming
a professional baseball player?
Kowalski decided that he shouldn’t. As badly as
he wanted to go pro, the timing was off. He chose
to stick with grad school and figure out his options
from there. One option, he realized, was to play for
the basketball team.
In high school, the Dorchester, Mass., native was
a two-time Independent School League all-star for
Roxbury Latin, where he averaged 18 points and 10
rebounds a game as a senior. Although Kowalski
hasn’t played competitive basketball since then, he
remained close to the game through his relationships
with Roche and Trapani.
“I was there, supporting, sitting close, talking
to them, congratulating them after good games
and picking them up after bad games,” Kowalski
said. “As athletes, we live vicariously through other
teams. Through basketball season, we support them,
and through baseball season, they supported us.”
Once Kowalski began working out with the
team over the summer, he recognized how difficult

it would be to become a basketball player again.
Baseball and basketball require different levels of
conditioning in order to get into optimal shape.
As a relief pitcher, Kowalski’s main focus was on
keeping his arm as strong as possible. Basketball
puts more of a premium on running in short spurts
and endurance.
One skill that will translate over to the hardwood despite the difference in sport is leadership.
Kowalski captained the baseball team as a senior,
and he knows what it’s like to follow up an excellent
year with a disappointing one. As a junior, Kowalski
helped pitch the team to its first NCAA tournament
appearance in 42 years. Expectations were high for
the Eagles a year later even though they lost Tony
Sanchez and Mike Belfiore, their two best players,
to the draft. They finished 30-28 and outside the
NCAA tournament.
The season was a letdown for Kowalski, personally, too. He had plenty to build on after ending his
junior year with a win against Texas State in BC’s
third-to-last game before throwing 3.1 innings of
scoreless relief against Texas in the longest game in
NCAA history. Senior year was a nightmare, though.
His ERA jumped from 5.10 to 8.42 because he became
too hittable. In just 6.1 more innings than his junior
year, Kowalski allowed an additional 23 hits.
“I was trying to do too much,” he said of his last
baseball season. “As a senior captain, every time I
came in, I thought I had to be the shutdown guy. It
made me pitch out of my element. I left too many
pitches over the plate.”
The basketball team suffered a similar fate after
Tyrese Rice graduated two years ago. The Eagles fell
from 22-12 to 15-16. Anything less than an NCAA
tournament berth this year is a disappointment,
Kowalski said. By learning from what went right
his junior year and what went wrong his senior year,
he can help the team rebound from an incredibly
underwhelming season.
Bylaw 14.2 of the NCAA rules grants varsity
athletes a fifth year of eligibility in a different sport
after four years playing their primary sport. In
other words, Bylaw 14.2 is the reason Kowalski is
still an Eagle.
Several famous players have used Bylaw 14.2 once
they exhausted their initial eligibility, including
Greg Paulus and Jimmy Graham. Paulus threw for
2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns as the quarterback
of Syracuse’s football team after four seasons as a
Duke basketball player. Graham parlayed a season
of football at Miami into a spot on the New Orleans
Saints roster following four seasons of hoops for the
Hurricanes.
Kowalski doesn’t expect to put up numbers like
those two did. Whether he’s the second big man off
the bench or buried deep on the depth chart, his
goal is the same: to help his teammates improve. If
he makes his teammates better, Kowalski said, then
he’ll get better himself by going up against superior
players every day in practice.
All that matters to Kowalski is winning. His time
on this team is limited, so he has to make the most
of his single season. That means relearning the game
as quickly as possible. That means going hard in
practice every day. That means guiding the Eagles
back to the NCAA tournament.
That’s his best idea yet. n

Southern feels he can
thrive in new system
By Greg Joyce
Heights Staff

J

osh Southern turned down
scholarship offers from Michigan State and the University
of Kentucky to come to Boston
College. He was a MaxPreps
All-American, and in his senior year, he
averaged 16 points and 16 rebounds per
game. Yet, during his first three years at
BC, Southern averaged just 5.3 points and
four rebounds a game.
Under new head coach Steve Donahue, however, Southern looks poised to
return to the spotlight as the dominant
big man he once was on the court.
“Basically for me, it’s kind of like resurrecting my skills and talents,” Southern
said. “I think playing in Skinner’s system
kind of handicapped me a little bit.
Coming out of high school, I was that
pick and pop, even bringing the ball up
every now and then, handling the ball,
shooting threes, shooting the 15-foot
shots, posting up. I was doing it all. But
just coming into the [Skinner] system,
I became stagnant, kind of picked up
some weight.”
During Skinner’s time at BC, Southern got stuck in the flex offense, and never
really got a chance to shine as he did in
high school. It wasn’t because of any lack
of playing time, as the 6-foot-10 giant
started every game in his sophomore
season, and all but six games in his junior
year. The offensive game plan didn’t allow
Southern to flourish, but he believes that
the new system is fit to his strengths, and
it may even allow him to do something
that most BC fans probably never knew
he could do.
“What some people don’t know is that
I actually can shoot,” Southern said. “I
haven’t really showed it over the years
because of the system that we were in.
But I actually can shoot. You’ll see more
of that this year. I’ll fit in fine. Pick and

pop situations, pick and roll, finish at the
basket. With the offense being so spread
out, it gives me more opportunities to
work than getting double teamed and
then triple teamed.”
His coach agrees with him.
“Well he definitely can make a 17-18
footer,” Donahue said. “I don’t know
if he’s consistently a 3-point shooter. I
do think he’s a skilled kid. I think he’s
worked on his game, and I don’t ever
discourage anybody from shooting an
open jumper. But I expect Josh to be able
to [shoot]. In some ways, he’s better at
that than his back to the basket.”
Unfortunately, due to a minor surgery,
Southern has not been able to practice
at all besides in non-contact drills. After Saturday’s exhibition, during which
Southern was not in uniform, Donahue
said he expected him to get the green
light to start exercising this past Monday,
while Southern said he expected to be
back in practice next week. Whenever
he is able to return, though, Southern
will look to get back into the form that
he worked hard on all summer.
“The main thing for me is just getting back into shape,” Southern said.
“They’ve been working with me all summer with what they want me to do, what
they need me to do.”
“I’m a little disappointed, and I feel
bad for him that he hasn’t gotten a good
jump on the season,” Donahue said. “But
I’m actually excited to get him back into
the flow, because I do think he’s someone
who fits in well with what we do.”
Besides new scoring opportunities,
Southern and his coach agree that he
will be a key part of the overall new BC
offense.
“I’ll definitely fit in well,” Southern
said. “Big men have to be able to pass out
there. I can pass well. You have to be able
to put your back to the basket. It should

be fine though, definitely.”
“It’s very rare you find a kid that big
that has a positive assist-to-turnover
ratio, even in a system that doesn’t even
stress that, so I see some really good basketball instincts,” Donahue said. “[He]
doesn’t lose his poise, finds the open
man. A lot of big guys have a tendency
to get the ball, put their head down, and
go. Josh doesn’t.
“I think he’ll flourish in certain aspects
– it will help our overall offense. And I
think he will score more. But more importantly, I think he’ll help us on the offensive
end with the flow of the game.”
Southern’s return will be crucial for
an Eagles frontcourt, which is thin due to
the transfer of Rakim Sanders and Evan
Ravenel, and the graduation of Tyler
Roche. Until he gets healthy, Donahue
will use a mix of players to aid Cortney
Dunn at the five.
“I have to get back in shape fast,”
Southern said. “But Cortney Dunn is
gonna be fine. Joe [Trapani] can do
both, but he’s more of a perimeter guy.
But we should be fine. Corey [Raji] will
be down there, even Dallas [Elmore] will
be down there playing power forward.
We’ll manage.”
“Obviously, we want Josh to get back
and get healthy because we’re going to
need him come game time,” Trapani said
after Saturday’s exhibition.
At Saginaw High School in Detroit,
Southern was a standout player, combining with current Michigan State star
Draymond Green to win a state title in
2007.
“It was fun,” Southern said. “It was
basically like the big two. He was power
forward, I was center. We were fortunate
to win a state championship my senior
year, his junior year. We had a great team
that year.”
Although he could have played near

alex trautwig / heights editor

Southern is aiming to surpass his subpar sophomore and junior seasons under a new system.
home at Michigan State or taken his talents to powerhouse Kentucky, Southern
decided he wanted to come to BC, and
despite a decline in productivity, said he
has not regretted his decision at all.
“I don’t know if I was ready for the
campus size,” Southern said of Michigan State and Kentucky. “I was ready to
play ball at that level in that particular
conference, but I liked Boston College
because it was a smaller school. Also,
we were in the ACC, the TV media is bar
none. And then academics, man. Boston
College is one of the top schools that you
can come to.
“When I made my decision, I said I
was going to stick it out through thick and
thin. I have so many opportunities here,
now. Especially with different alumni,
different people I’ve met over the years.
I have so many connections. I don’t think
my decision will go in vain.”
A spiritual player off the court, Southern leads the team in prayer before they
play every game. His number also has a
spiritual meaning.
“52 equals seven, which is God’s perfect number,” Southern explained. “All
my life, I either had 34 or 52, and all those
equals seven.”
It is evident that Southern has a deep
care for his community and others, as he

also draws praise from his coach on his
dedication off the court.
“I think he’s a great kid,” Donahue
said. “Already, he’s done an incredible
amount of community service work since
I’ve been here. He’s always the first guy
to jump up and say he wants to do it. He
doesn’t just want to do it because it’s part
of this thing. You can tell he embraces it
and he likes it.”
One of five seniors who have played at
the Heights all three years, Southern has
the opportunity to show everyone his true
skills that have been dormant over the
past three years. It may not be easy at
first, especially coming back from surgery,
but the quiet big man thinks the team can
turn it around this year.
“It’s going to be a trying season, just
still trying to get into the system and
Coach Donahue,” Southern said. “Other
than that, everybody’s working hard,
everybody’s putting out, so we should
have a real good season.
“Our main goal is to make the tournament and go as far as we can. We have the
talent, I think we can do it.”
With the resurrection of Southern’s
talents, that goal is certainly within
reach. n

B6 BASKETBALLPREVIEW

The Heights

thursday, NOVEMBER 11, 2010

One final chance for an
NCAA tournament run
“Our goal is to make it far in the ACC tournament and make it to
the NCAA tournament for our senior year.”

had thus far.
“There is a lot of inexperience, but they are
working so hard,” Swords said. “They are very
talented individuals. They are learning as they
go along. It’s different not playing with the se—Stefanie Murphy
niors [who just graduated], but this is so good.
Starting Forward
We are a little more aggressive and getting more
up and trying to learn everything on the go,” steals. It’s an exciting change.”
By Brad Zak
Swords explained. “My experience has made me
Swords and Murphy remain close on and off
Heights Staff
more alert and more aware of what is happen- the court, which seems to help with their success
tefanie Murphy and Carolyn Swords ing on the floor. It’s more like solving a puzzle, on the court. Both create incredible match-up
have 2,667 career points and 61 wins instead of trying to remember plays and stuff. problems for opposing defenses due to Swords’
combined during their three-year Now I just get to play the game.”
repertoire of strong post moves and Murphy’s
Since then, Swords has developed into one ability to stretch opposing forwards toward the
careers at Boston College. But the
number that is most important to of the premier post players in the NCAA. The extended elbow.
them heading into their senior season is zero. past two seasons, she led the NCAA in shooting
“[We] are kind of opposites of each other,”
That’s the number of times they’ve made the percentage by hitting 66.4 percent of her shots Murphy described their relationship. “On the
NCAA tournament since coming to campus in last year, and 67.8 percent the year prior. Last court we can just look at each other and know
2007. As senior leaders, with just one chance year’s 14.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game what we are supposed to be doing. We don’t
left, they are looking to add a tournament berth earned her first-team All-ACC honors, and had really talk to each other a lot on the court,
her named to this year’s All-American preseason which the coaches get upset about, but when
to their basketball resumes.
“Our goal is to make it far in the ACC tour- watch list as well as the Naismith preseason I see her do something, I do the opposite. We
nament and make it to the NCAA tournament watch list.
have built a very good chemistry over the last
Swords wasn’t the only highly anticipated re- three years.”
for our senior year,” Murphy said. “[Last year]
was the third year we didn’t make it, and we re- cruit that joined the team four years ago, though.
That chemistry and cohesive play has alally thought we had a chance because of all the Murphy came to the Heights as reigning Gato- lowed them to etch a prominent place in the BC
upsets that we had. When UNC jumped over us rade New Hampshire Player of the Year and a history books. Swords ranks eighth all-time in
to make it, that was really a heartbreaker, but Top 40 McDonald’s All-American finalist. In her career points, with Murphy trailing close behind
after that Decision Show, we definitely don’t first start for BC, she notched 26 points and 11 in 14th, and they also rank third and fifth, rerebounds against the University of New Hamp- spectively, on the all-time rebounding list.
want to feel that way again.”
Last year, the women’s basketball team shire, which would end up setWhat prevented the tall
put together a successful season that featured ting the tone for an impressive
duo from controlling games
“It’s more like solving was the team’s inability to
wins over perennial ACC powers Duke, North 14.5 points and 7.7 rebounds
Carolina, and Maryland, but was also marred by per game during her freshman
a puzzle, instead of consistently feed the ball
losses to Harvard, Vermont, and Clemson and season that earned her ACC
to the dynamic post
trying to remember inside
a subpar 3-9 record on the road. Their record Rookie of the Year honors. Her
players. At times, the team
last year was 17-15, 6-8 in the ACC, but those numbers have taken a slight
plays and stuff. Now seemed to fall in love with the
aforementioned victories and a tough non- dip the past two seasons, but
shot, and Swords and
I just get to play the outside
conference schedule kept them in contention a strong surge during ACC
Murphy struggled to remain
game.”
for an NCAA tournament appearance up until play last year could suggest
involved in the offense.
Selection Monday. This season, Swords and that she’s finally settling into
Murphy was quick to conMurphy, along with fellow senior point guard her role in head coach Sylvia
cede
that the ACC is loaded
—Carolyn Swords
Jaclyn Thoman, will look to make the team a Crawley’s offense.
with strong guards that deStarting Center
“My game has become more
more consistent squad.
fend the interior pass well.
Swords realizes that her leadership will be physical,” Murphy said. “I’ve
“Especially in the ACC
key in helping the team achieve the balance it also developed more of an outside game. I’ve there are amazing guards,” she said. “If they
learned so much in the last three years, and I’m can get us the ball with the defense they face,
lacked at times last year.
“I think as long as we can keep our good starting to put it all together.”
then more power to them. The coaches have
These two senior standouts will have an definitely stressed trying to play more inside-out
habits consistent regardless of who we are
playing and making sure we are focusing on entirely new mission ahead of them this season, basketball, and I think we’ve done that in our
ourselves playing the best basketball we can, as they try to incorporate a lot of new faces into past few scrimmages. We think the more we do
then it shouldn’t matter who our opponent is,” the system. The team returns three starters in it in practice, the more we do it in games.”
Swords, Murphy, and Thoman, as well as key
Swords said.
The duo will certainly be leaving Chestnut
Expectations were high for Swords after she reserve sophomore Kerri Shields. The team Hill with the personal hardware to signify their
had been named Massachusetts Gatorade Player graduated three key players from last year’s impressive careers, but some postseason troof the Year. She started in all 33 games freshman team and lost another two players to transfer, phies would go a long way in solidifying their
year, and averaged a strong 13.7 points and 7.3 but a strong recruiting class has both senior legacies. A women’s basketball program looking
captains confident that the program will only for a signature moment now has the senior stars
rebounds per game.
“Freshman year, I was doing a lot of catching continue to improve on the three seasons they’ve to lead it there. n

Shields forced to grow up quickly
Backup guard
will be asked to
help newcomers

in to play. The rookie guard, fresh from Archbishop John Carroll High School
high school, came in off the bench and just outside Philadelphia, she drained
hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers, galvaniz- 66 threes during her senior campaign,
ing the Eagles on their way to a 72-64 leading her team to a 30-1 overall record,
win. The Hurricanes learned the hard a state title, and a top-five national rankway what Sylvia Crawley already knew: ing by ESPN.
Kerri Shields is dangerous from beyond
Shields’ two younger sisters, Erin,
the arc.
then a junior, and Shannon, then a
“They were playing off of our point freshman, were also on the championBy Robert T. Balint
guard a little bit, so we
ship team. Their mother,
Heights Staff
put in Kerri, who has a
Maureen, was the head
“My role has
coach. Maureen played
arolyn Swords and Stefanie scorer’s mentality,” Crawcompletely
ball at St. Joseph’s UniverMurphy are the two main of- ley said after the Miami
sity in Philadelphia, which
changed since
fensive threats in the Boston game. Despite only startwhere Erin will play this
College women’s basketball ing two games, Shields’
last year. It’s been is
season as a freshman.
arsenal. At 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-4, it’s 37 3-pointers were the
about getting the
“Mom was a point
easy to just focus on the duo that domi- s e c o n d - m ost o n t h e
team, and her .346 averguard
[in college], so
nates the paint.
freshmen up to
she coached us,” Shields
Meanwhile, far from the rim, a new- age from distance was the
speed.”
said.
comer to the team was quietly adjust- 10th-highest among ACC
The sophomore deing to college level basketball in the players.
For the Pennsylvania
scribes her mom as her
backcourt. While Swords and Murphy
—Kerri Shields
inspiration for taking up
controlled the frontcourt, this player native, lurking beyond
Guard
basketball, and as the
established herself as a dangerous long- the arc has long been
figure she looks up to the
range weapon with a knack for hitting familiar territory.
“I played guard all
most. Coach Shields, howbig shots.
When the score was tied in a must-win through high school, and the team’s ever, was not the type to play favorites.
“I got kicked out of a few drills,”
game against Miami last January, head offense was centered around the guard
coach Sylvia Crawley knew who to send scoring,” Shields said. A graduate of Shields said with a laugh. “It was good
that way, it toughened me up. I’m very
close with my family, and I loved every
second.”
After graduation, Shields traded
her high school uniform for the Eagles’
maroon and gold. Making the transition
from Patriot to Eagle was a challenge
for Shields.
“I went from being a high school
senior to back to being a freshman,”
Shields said.
And that meant she was back on the
bottom of the totem pole. With seniors
Brittanny Johnson and Mickel Picco
ahead of her on the depth chart, she did
not see nearly as many minutes as she did
back in Drexel Hill, a serious change for
the once big-impact player.
“I was used to never sitting and
watching,” Shields said.
As a freshman on a senior-heavy
team, she did not hold a starting spot,
but still earned playing time in all 32
games, averaging 12.4 minutes per game.
She provided the team with a scorer who
could come off the bench and provide a
jolt of offensive output.
This year, however, the team has a
new look to it. Besides the three seniors
alex trautwig / heights editor
– Swords, Murphy, and guard Jaclyn
Thoman – Shields is the only member of
Fans got a glimpse of Shields during Ice Jam, when she took part in the 3-point contest.

C

alex trautwig / heights editor

Shields made an impact as a sharpshooter off the bench, but will be relied on more this year.
the team with game experience. Along
with these four returners, five freshmen
and two transfers complete this year’s
lineup.
“My role has completely changed since
last year,” Shields said. “It’s been about
getting the freshmen up to speed.”
Just how big the jump is from high
school to college basketball is fresh in
the sophomore’s mind. Everything from
longer practices and weightlifting sessions to intimidating course loads can
be tough on new players. Fortunately
for newcomers like point guards Shayra
Brown and Tiffany Ruffin, Shields’ affable and approachable nature coupled
with her experience make her an ideal
role model.
“All the seniors and myself have tried
to help them as much as we can,” Shields
said. “The upperclassmen are really open
and helpful, and they’ve let me take a
leadership role.”
In addition to her new role as a leader,

Shields has been putting in more work to
better fit within the Eagles’ fast-paced
strategy. Getting to the basket, practicing
her jump shot, and improving her conditioning have been main priorities for the
guard. By rounding out her sharpshooting from 3-point land with the ability to
penetrate and score from inside, Shields
is growing from an outside threat to a
full-fledged guard, giving her the versatility she’ll need to split time between
point guard and shooting guard.
After the long slog that is preseason
practice, Shields is ready to get going
with the season. She’s confident in the
team, and how close they have become.
“It’s easy being on a team who you get
along with so well,” Shields said. “Everyone wants to achieve the same goal, and
we’re all willing to work.”
This season will see Kerri Shields
mature from an outside threat to a wellbalanced guard. Other teams are going
to start to take notice. n

SPORTS
THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, November 11, 2010

C1

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010

Soccer
blanks
Duke

Promise
of a new
season

BY ROBERT T. BALINT
Heights Staff

As happens so often in soccer, one
ﬁve-second play dictated the outcome
of the entire 90Boston College 1
minute affair. A
0
Duke
first-half goal
by Amit Aburmad and an ironclad BC
defense gave the men’s soccer team its
ﬁrst win of the ACC tournament, as the
ﬁfth-seeded Eagles (10-3-5, 2-2-4 ACC)
upset fourth-seeded Duke (9-5-4, 3-4-2
ACC), 1-0, on Thursday night in the Blue
Devils’ Wallace Wade Stadium.
The teams began the ﬁrst half with
cautious skirmishing. Duke held possession for most of the early minutes, limiting the Eagles to defending and chasing.
Besides a Blue Devil corner kick in the
39th minute, however, the host team did
not force many chances to score. Further
into the half, the Boston College offense
began to liven up, and in the 28th minute,
the strikers found an opening.
Midfielder Kyle Bekker took possession of the ball around midﬁeld and
spotted Edvin Worley streaking toward
the goal. Bekker let go with a long-range
pass that found Worley on the near side of
the 18, and managed to send it across the
box to a waiting Aburmad. Aburmad took
the pass and tapped the ball into the goal,
ﬁnishing a beautifully executed offensive
sequence that put the Eagles up 1-0.
Finding themselves in the lead, the
Eagles pulled back, shifting to a more
defensive posture by putting nine players behind the ball and leaving only one
forward. Duke challenged several times
in the remaining minutes before halftime,
including a chance in the 21st minute.
Duke’s Cole Grossman threaded a pass
in the penalty box to midﬁelder Daniel
Tweed-Kent, who then shot from close
range. Goaltender Justin Luthy, however,
was in perfect position to make the save,
and blocked the try with his body to deny
Tweed-Kent a tying goal.
With a one-goal lead, the Eagles came
out in the second half playing a defenseheavy formation. Rather than pursue any
serious chances, the team was content to
let Duke have possession, challenging the
Blue Devils only when they neared the
BC goal. The strategy effectively stiﬂed
Duke’s main offensive threat, Ryan Finley,
a dangerous forward who had 17 goals
this season.
There were a few close calls again
around the goal, as Duke kept the pressure high. With 13 minutes left, Temi
Molinar broke into the box and passed
to an open Finley, but the forward lost
control and overran the ball. Tweed-Kent
continued to make quality crosses and
create chances, but there were just too
many maroon jerseys for the Blue Devils
to handle, and the Eagles’ solid defensive effort held strong until the whistle
blew at the 90th minute. With the win,
BC improves to 10-3-5 and advances to
the semiﬁnals match against top-seeded
North Carolina at 8 p.m. on Friday. 

MAEGAN O’ROURKE

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Claiborne, who is an emotional leader for BC, battled an injury and coaching decisions to reclaim his position as BC’s starting guard.

Guard Thomas Claiborne is ﬁghting to re-earn his starting role.
He had started 29 consecutive games going into Boston
College’s bye week, the third week of the season. After that,
however, he came off the bench to play in the next three
games. He earned his starting role back for the next three
contests before sitting out again due to injury.
The ﬁfth-year senior is part of an offensive line that was
heralded going into the season, but then struggled to ﬁnd a
rhythm and a set group of players. Claiborne has stayed in
the same position, but has moved in and out of the lineup
more than most.
He has become an example for the rest of the team. Head
coach Frank Spaziani wanted to show that not even a ﬁfthyear senior, a captain and returning starter, can slip and just
be an average player, according to Claiborne.

“It took me a while to process it, when Coach Spaz ﬁrst
[reduced my playing time], I had my doubts [like], ‘What’s
going on, how do I go from being a two-year starter to not
playing at all?’” Claiborne said. “He did what he did for a
reason.”
Claiborne considers himself an emotional leader, a role
that is obvious to anyone on or off the ﬁeld. He is constantly
energizing his teammates and calling for noise from the
crowd. Even in conversation, Claiborne gestures emphatically and speaks strongly, trying to make his point as clear
as possible.
But sometimes being an emotional leader is not
enough.
When Claiborne was playing with the second-stringers
he felt that he was trying hard at practice, but nothing was
coming out of it. “I was like, ‘What else do I need to do to
get on the ﬁeld on Saturday? What else do I need to do to get

See Claiborne, C3

Every time the middle of November
rolls around, I get depressed.
Daylight savings means it gets
dark at 4:30 p.m. The combination of
cold wind and freezing rain makes it
difﬁcult to get out of bed even for my
noon class. Any evidence of a summer
tan is completely gone (if you had one
in the ﬁrst place). Ordering an iced
coffee from Hillside draws judgmental
stares from the hot chocolate drinkers. The walk to that party on Foster
Street is that much longer when
you’re wearing a skirt in 20-degree
weather.
I’m convinced seasonal depression
is a legitimate condition, because I
am certainly inﬂicted with it. Exhaustion? Check. General apathy for
anything besides sleeping? Check.
Completely disregarding the Plex?
Check.
As a native of Massachusetts,
though, I’ve learned to just suck it up.
I have also found one foolproof cure
that can always drag me out of the
doldrums: basketball season.
It may sound cliche, but my favorite sport, basketball, keeps me from
hating winter. Yes, football in the fall
has the tailgating and traditions, and
baseball in the spring and summer is
America’s sport, but I’ll take basketball any season of the year.
I think my love for basketball
season stems back from my own playing days (cue “Glory Days,” please).
I anticipated the ﬁrst day of practice
like a kid on Christmas morning. Full
of high expectations and donning my
brand new Nike sneakers, I eagerly
awaited running hours of drills on the
freshly-waxed court in the gym, just
glad to be reunited with my team. The
start of a new season was exciting,
and breathed life back into the cold
days as winter approached.
I still anticipate the start of the
basketball season, only now I’m
watching safely from my couch or the
stands. I look forward to the drama
and unfolding storylines of the college
game, as well as the skill and entertainment of the NBA. Who doesn’t
love watching the Duke-UNC rivalry,
or seeing LeBron James go for 30 a
night (any time he’s not playing the
Celtics, that is)? Even beyond the
national stage, I’ll still follow my
high school team’s season from time
to time. I can watch any level of the
game and be perfectly content.
All of this is why I know I will
still be a fan of the Boston College

See Re-energized, C3

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Mercurial Eagles open with BU
BY ADAM ROSE
For The Heights

Despite losing in the semifinals of
the ACC tournament and holding a No.
19 national ranking, the Boston College
women’s soccer team holds a No. 2 seed
in the NCAA tournament, which begins
Friday on the Eagles’ home turf. The
Eagles (13-6-1) host the Boston University Terriers (16-5) in the ﬁrst round of
the NCAA tournament, marking the 14th
time BC received a berth to the national
tournament, and the 10th time under head
coach Alison Foley.
“The familiarity of the ﬁeld and letting
players sleep in their bed is huge for us,”
she said. “It was a nice compliment from
the NCAA to give a No. 2 seed a hosting
site.”
The Eagles have scored just one goal in
their past three games, which has led Foley
and the coaching staff to reevaluate their
offensive look. Though Victoria DiMartino
leads the team in goals, opposing teams
have become aware of her and now send
multiple defenders to shadow her.
“We’re experimenting with different

combinations now to see which work best,”
Foley said.
Some of those combinations will
involve moving around scorers Brooke
Knowlton and Kristie Mewis, who will
need to draw pressure away from DiMartino and push the offensive tempo to break
up the double-teams.
On the defensive end, Foley said the
Eagles have corrected many of their earlyseason mistakes and have become a fearsome back line. Plus, if the ball somehow
beats the defense, opposing offenses must
still deal with one of the top goalies in the
country, Jillian Mastroianni, who holds a
0.93 goals-against average this season, and
received All-ACC Tournament honors.
BC and BU also have a history beyond
the usual Comm Ave. rivalry. Earlier this
season, the two squads met at BU, and the
Eagles earned a 1-0 victory on a Mewis
goal. The inherent school rivalry, however,
adds an extra incentive.
“The pride and city of champions is
on the line,” Foley said. “I think BU walks
in thinking, ‘We hate BC,’ and that can
give them energy. Whether it’s positive or
negative energy, it can carry you to a win,

I NSIDE SPORTS
THIS ISSUE

so we need to come out focused.”
The Terriers have impressively earned
13 straight shutouts, with their last loss
coming at Virginia on Sept. 12. The Terriers started their season with a strong
slate of ranked opponents, all of whom
they played close. They lost by one goal to
No. 12 South Carolina and No. 2 Stanford,
and were shut out, 3-0, by the Cavaliers,
the team’s most lopsided defeat of the
season.
BU will attack the Eagles with a 4-3-3
alignment, led by Lisa Kevorkian and Jessica Luscinski, who have scored 14 and 12
goals this season, respectively.
For seniors Knowlton, Hannah Cerrone, Chelsea Reagan, Amy Caldwell, and
Natalie Crutchﬁeld, this will mark the last
NCAA tournament run of their careers,
and their experience will be crucial to
the team’s success. Cerrone spoke to the
team Tuesday afternoon and recounted
her story of the ﬁrst-round loss to UConn
in her freshman year as a reminder not to
overlook the ﬁrst game.
“The seniors want a national championship,” Foley said. “It’s been their goal
since the beginning of the year.” 

Basketball season starts with a pair
of non-conference match-ups on Friday. Women’s soccer is a No. 2 seed
in the NCAA tournament and will host
BU. The football team travels back to
North Carolina for the second straight
week, this time to play Duke.

Zach Wielgus

20-25

Maegan O’Rourke

20-25

Paul Sulzer

19-26

Heights Staff

18-27

The Eagles are two wins away from bowl
eligibility after beating Wake, 23-13.
Men’s hockey lost to UNH, while the
women remain undefeated after tying
Vermont. The women’s soccer team
was knocked out of the ACC tournament by Maryland in the semiﬁnals.

Men’s Soccer
Sophomore forward Charlie Rugg headlined a trio of Eagles
named to the All-ACC soccer team in a league announcement.
Rugg captured all-conference ﬁrst-team recognition, sophomore midﬁelder Kyle Bekker earned second-team honors, and
center back Chris Ager garnered All-Freshman Team accolades.
Rugg started all 17 regular-season games, registering a
team-high eight goals and two assists.
Bekker also started every regular season game this year,
scoring three goals and dishing out four assists.
Ager started the ﬁnal 12 games of the regular season and
was chosen as a co-captain before the season due to his outstanding leadership ability.

Football
Zach Wielgus
Sports Editor

Maegan O’Rourke
Assoc. Sports Editor

Paul Sulzer
Asst. Sports Editor

Darren Ranck
Managing Editor

Duke

BC

BC

Duke

Women’s Soccer: Boston College vs. Boston Univ.

BC

BC

BC

BC

Men’s Basketball: Boston College vs. St. Francis (N.Y.)

BC

BC

BC

BC

Women’s Basketball: Boston College at Boston Univ.

BC

BC

BC

BU

Patriots

Patriots

Steelers

Steelers

NFL: New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers

BCnotes

Recap from Last Week

Former Boston College football player Robert Ziminski, 27,
was killed in a one-vehicle trafﬁc accident early Saturday morning, Nov. 6, in Canton, Mass.
“We were shocked and saddened to hear of Robert’s tragic
death,” said head coach Frank Spaziani. “He was a member of
the Boston College football family, and our thoughts and prayers
are with his family and friends.”
Ziminski, a defensive end, was a member of the BC football
team from 2002-05 and graduated from BC in 2006. He is
survived by his parents, Eugeniusz and Helen Ziminski, sister
Irene Gouge and brother Peter Ziminski.

Four points are up for grabs against Vermont
BY STEVEN PRINCIPI
For The Heights

ALEX TRAUTWIG / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Freshman Kevin Hayes will be out 2-3 weeks with a sprained knee, the same injury that has sidelined Tommy Cross.

Seven wins needed to
guarantee bowl berth
NICK LOURY

What once seemed like a lost football season
for the Eagles now has a newfound purpose.
With four wins and three games remaining in the
season, Boston College has renewed its hopes for
winning six games and becoming bowl eligible.
Keep in mind that simply becoming bowl eligible does not guarantee that a team will actually
be invited to participate in a game. Realistically,
the Eagles will probably need to win seven games
to actually be selected by a bowl committee for
two reasons. Not only do BC fans have a reputation for not traveling well, but this year’s team
has been underwhelming from an entertainment
standpoint.
Bowl organizers would prefer to have an
exciting team that will score a lot of points over
a grind-it-out, defensive-minded team like BC.
Last weekend’s Michigan-Illinois triple-overtime
shootout is a perfect example of how captivating
a game devoid of defense can be.
While the Eagles certainly have their work cut
out for them, earning a bowl berth is about more
than simply continuing a streak of 11 straight
post-season appearances. Extending the season
could be a key building block to future success,
particularly with such a young team.
There are about three weeks of practice
between the ﬁnal game of the season and when
teams would begin gearing their preparation to
a speciﬁc bowl opponent. This time is roughly
comparable to the duration of fall camp, and allows younger players to get meaningful reps that
are not possible during normal practices.
The real future value comes from the way
practice can be structured without an imminent game. During the regular season, the scout
team, which is made up of reserves, only runs
the opponent’s plays, often to the exclusion of
BC’s own schemes. The added weeks of practice
before the bowl games give them a chance to get
comfortable with the team’s own playbook and
receive more individual coaching, both from the
staff and their older teammates. The players on

the two-deep depth chart can use the time to
work on fundamentals that may have been overlooked in favor of game preparation.
Once the team begins gearing practice toward
preparing for its bowl game opponent, the starters will receive the majority of reps. The opportunities for improvement, however, do not end on
the practice ﬁeld. The extra game is a valuable
learning experience, representing almost 10
percent more in-game action compared to the
normal 12-game regular season.
If the team is able to pull out a win, this experience is magniﬁed. As Vince Lombardi famously
pointed out, “Winning is a habit,” not something
that happens by chance. It is a trait that can only
be taught through the process of preparing for
and playing the game.
It is easy to recognize the on-ﬁeld beneﬁts of
extending the season, but there are also intangible, off-ﬁeld beneﬁts. Because most bowls are
televised, they can provide increased exposure
for the team, which could beneﬁt recruiting,
especially with a win.
Bowl games also offer teams a chance to
develop their off-ﬁeld relationships with one
another. Do not forget that with the bowl game
comes a week-long trip ﬁlled with events and the
chance to explore a new locale with teammates.
It is a nice reward for a long season ﬁlled with
early mornings and late nights and an opportunity for players to enjoy themselves before winter
workouts mark the start of the next season in
January.
If BC can earn an invitation to a bowl game,
it will set the team up nicely for next season
and give the players some vindication from the
disappointment and frustration of the current
year. A strong ﬁnish would also provide hope and
motivation for the grueling winter and summer
workouts. In order to accomplish this goal, the
whole team will have to follow the example of
Montel Harris and ﬁght hard for every yard in the
ﬁnal three games.

Nick Loury is a guest columnist for The Heights. He
can be reached at sports@bcheights.com.

Heading to Burlington, Vt. for this weekend’s
two-game series against the Vermont Catamounts,
the No. 7 Boston College men’s hockey team has
only one thought on its mind: get every point that
it possibly can.
With the Hockey East schedule now in full
swing, and having lost two of their last three conference games to Merrimack and New Hampshire,
this early season match-up against the Catamounts
is a critical one for the Eagles.
“It’s certainly a key early season match-up for
us,” said head coach Jerry York. “There are four
big points available, and the way BU, Merrimack,
New Hampshire, and Maine are breaking, it’s up
to all of us to keep up and play solid hockey each
chance we get.”
BC (5-3-0, 3-2-0 Hockey East) sits third in
the Hockey East standings, four points behind
ﬁrst-place BU, who is undefeated. Vermont (0-33, 0-2-2 Hockey East), meanwhile, sits last in the
conference with only two points. The Catamounts,
however, have not been signiﬁcantly outplayed,
having been outscored by only three goals in the
four league games they have played. The obvious
skill of Vermont, combined with the fact that it has
yet to win a league game, has York a bit cautious
for this weekend’s series.
“Vermont, though they’ve played well, they’re
losing a lot of points also, so it’s a very important
series for the Catamounts,” York said. “But I think
that it’s a good chance for us to move forward.”
BC will have to move forward without two key
players. Freshman winger Kevin Hayes is expected
to miss 2-3 weeks with a knee sprain, and co-captain and defenseman Tommy Cross, who suffered
a sprained knee against Merrimack, is also not
expected to play this weekend. With the absence of
two big contributors on both offense and defense,

York is looking to his upperclassmen to step up
their game.
“No question, we lean on the seniors for leadership,” York said. “But it’s not just the seniors, it’s all
of our players. We all have to be leaders. We have a
couple of nagging injuries, so we’ll have to shufﬂe
lines for that, but everyone else needs to pick up
the slack. It’s an important weekend for us, we have
to play really well to win at Vermont.”
The team has been getting incredible play in
the defensive zone, even with Cross going down
earlier in the season. Goaltender John Muse has a
goals-against average of 1.68, and the team has only
let up 14 total goals through the ﬁrst eight games.
Still, York was quick to point out the need for
continued contribution on both ends, even with
freshman Isaac MacLeod ﬁlling in for Cross and the
likely insertion of Tommy Atkinson as a forward.
“Two pretty new guys in the lineup,” York said.
“A forward and a defenseman. We need everyone
on the roster to contribute this weekend, not just
a few people.”
York also stressed the importance of capitalizing on scoring opportunities. Against New
Hampshire on Friday, BC controlled play for long
stretches, often creating excellent scoring chances.
Yet, the Eagles managed just one goal the entire
game, eventually ending in a 2-1 loss.
York, however, managed to take something positive out of the loss.
“We thought we created a lot of good chances,”
he said. “I think that was probably the best 60 minutes of hockey we played all season, even though
we lost that game. We created some really good
offensive chances, just didn’t capitalize like we
should have. We played good defensively, holding
them to two goals, and that’s a pretty high-powered
offense.”
Against Vermont, though, simply creating
chances will not be enough for the Eagles to get
every point possible. 

Winning at Wake

ANDREW POWELL / HEIGHTS STAFF

Montel Harris (right) carried the Eagles to victory on their final
drive in a 23-13 at Wake Forest on Saturday. For full coverage,
see www.bcheights.com/sports.

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

C3

Boston college at Duke

When BC runs the ball
Montel Harris has been the main reason why BC is on a two-game
winning streak, and this weekend shouldn’t be any different. Harris will
find space whenever he wants, thanks to the improved O-line, which will go
against a Duke defense that has allowed 199.8 yards per game this year.
Advantage:

When BC passes the ball
Last week, the Duke secondary got lit up for 417 yards of passing and 4
TDs by Virginia. Chase Rettig has been improving steadily, looking sharp
for the most part, except for his two interceptions last week. This is another
road test for the freshman, and he looks primed for a standout day.
Advantage:

When Duke runs the ball
Desmond Scott leads the rushing attack for the Blue Devils, though
he only averages 54 yards per game. Duke’s two QB’s combine for 10 of
their 17 rushing touchdowns on the season. The BC run defense has been
tough, but with the threat of the QB rushing, Duke gets the edge.
Advantage:

When Duke passes the ball
The BC secondary had four interceptions last weekend, but that was
against a struggling true freshman. Duke QB Sean Renfree averages over
250 yards per game, but has thrown 15 interceptions to only 12 touchdowns
in nine games. Look for the Eagles to get a few more picks this weekend.
Advantage:

Special teams

Andrew Powell / heights staff

Chase Rettig has looked more comfortable at QB, completing 12-of-16 passes last week, and will look to keep up the improvement against the Blue Devils.

Claiborne earns his position
Claiborne, from C1

my spot back?’” Claiborne said. “[Spaziani]
wanted to see me be not just a vocal leader,
but a leader by example, by doing everything
right.”
Against Florida State, Claiborne returned
to his starting role, a role that he kept for three
weeks. In those three games, the line was the
closest to stable that it had been all season,
and running back Montel Harris had his three
best games of the season to that date.
Claiborne suffered an injury to his back that
kept him out of last week’s game against Wake
Forest. This week, he has returned to practicing
in full, but still is not listed as the starter. Once
again, Claiborne is fighting for his spot.
“It felt like for the last four or five weeks
when I was trying to battle again to get back
on the field,” Claiborne said. “It’s how fast you
come back from the injury. It’s how you keep
your attitude. Do you keep it high or are you
like, ‘Oh, I’m injured, I can’t play?’”

Now, Claiborne is slowly working his way
back into his starting position. After a week
away from practice, he says he needs to ease
back into the game and get himself back into
the physical conditioning.
The need to get back on the field may be
a little bit more pressing for the senior. Coming into the season, Claiborne was named to
the All-ACC list and was considered a draft
prospect. Some players, including linebacker
Mark Herzlich, have received invitations to the
Senior Bowl, but Claiborne is sill waiting.
As he looks forward to the senior year specialties and that which comes after, maybe even
a chance in the NFL, Claiborne looks back on
his experiences before he came to BC. After
three years of school in Mattapan, Claiborne
took a test and was accepted into the METCO
program. He was then bussed to public schools
in Wellesley, Mass.
“[Boston] is not one of the best places to
grow up and it’s not one of the worst places
to grow up,” he said. “If I stayed in Boston, I

probably would not have gotten the looks that
I got at Wellesley.”
Wellesley High School is a Division 1 football program and one of the best schools in
the state academically. Claiborne was able to
get attention from teachers and coaches who
helped shaped him into who he is today.
“I still sit back now and to think that my
name is out there on different NFL draft prospect boards, I believe that what I went through
in high school is helping me to what I am now,”
Claiborne said. “I feel like [the transition from
urban to suburban schools as a fourth grader]
helped me to be able to take on the next portion of my life. I went through college. I came,
saw, and conquered. Now is where am I going
for the next part of my life.”
Claiborne has gone through many stages
from growing up in Mattapan and going to
school in Wellesley to playing football at BC.
At each stage, he solidified a role and position.
Now he is fighting to maintain that leadership
role on the BC football team. n

Donahue’s arrival brings out the energy
Re-energized, from C1

basketball team even when I’m abroad next
semester in Ireland. At the same time, that
may be the only certainty of this upcoming
season – I’m not exactly sure what to expect, because this year’s team is completely
new.
If basketball season reinvigorates my
winter depression, then new head coach
Steve Donahue has certainly sparked life
back into the BC basketball program. It’s
a new system under Donahue that shows
marked changes from former head coach Al
Skinner’s regime of 12 years.
The first thing that stands out about
Donahue is his energy and the high stan-

dards he sets for his team. He wants BC to
be known as the program that hustles for
every loose ball on the court, but also has
players that act as quality citizens off it. Not
only that, but he’s an extremely upbeat and
genuine guy who wants you to know that his
team is playing for the University, not just
for themselves. That’s probably why a new
change for the Eagles this year is that players’ last names will not be on the backs of
their new Under Armor jerseys.
Beyond just his coaching style, Donahue’s
system on the court will also be different. No
longer will BC run its condensed version of
the flex offense that packed the paint and
restricted the Eagles to a predominantly
half-court offense that couldn’t always keep

up with the rest of the ACC. Now, Donahue
encourages his players to push the ball and
shoot from beyond the arc, an up-tempo
style that will hopefully benefit the quickness and driving ability of guards like Reggie
Jackson and Biko Paris.
Will Donahue’s changes pay off this season in terms of wins and losses? That’s still
to be seen. But we know for sure that Donahue is building a program that will certainly
get me excited for the start of every basketball season. Now I just need to make sure
that they even play basketball in Ireland.

Maegan O’Rourke is the Associate Sports Editor
of The Heights. She can be reached at sports@
bcheights.com.

Tina chou / cornell daily sun

New head coach Steve Donahue wants to improve the BC basketball program on and off the court by setting high standards and introducing a new offense.

After getting two kicks blocked last week, the BC special teams need
to get their act together, because as Spaz said after the game, they are not
going to win games if they continue to make mistakes. Duke’s kicker’s last
name is Snyderwine. That alone is enough for the advantage.
Advantage:

Coaching and intangibles
Offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill might not be surprising anyone with
his play calling, but if a run-heavy playbook is working, why change it? Both
teams still have the chance to be bowl eligible, but the Eagles’ chances look
a lot better than Duke’s, and that should be enough motivation.
Advantage:

football notebook

Duke aerial attack will present challenges
By Ian Boynton
For The Heights

After losing 2009 second
team All-ACC quarterback
Thaddeus Lewis, Duke football
was not expected to be able to
replicate its high-powered offense this year. David Cutcliffe’s
squad is proving skeptics wrong.
In the last two games, the Blue
Devils have scored a combined
89 points, accumulating 945
yards, and have committed only
one turnover.
Leading the way for the Blue
Devils has been sophomore
quarterback Sean Renfree, who
has thrown for 2,270 yards, 12
touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. Four times this season,
Renfree has gone for over 300
yards passing, and in the last two
games, the young quarterback
had an average passer rating of
162.9, including a stellar mark of
192.26 against Navy.
“Duke runs such a power,
high-powered offense,” summed
up linebacker Mike Morrissey.
“It’s definitely a dynamic offense.”
Despite Renfree’s success,
the Duke offense has adopted
a two-quarterback system, at
times subbing in true freshman
quarterback Brandon Connette.
Connette, who has made a name
for himself as a dual-threat, has
only attempted 15 passes, yet has
accumulated 281 rushing yards
– good for second on the team.
At the two quarterbacks’ disposal is one of the best receiving
corps in the ACC, highlighted by
junior wide receiver and preseason
All-ACC selection Donovan Varner, and sophomore Conner Vernon,
who leads the Blue Devils with 717
yards on 49 receptions.
While Duke running back
Desmond Scott has rushed for
481 yards, he is averaging nearly
five yards per carry. Scott, however, gets few touches in Duke’s
air-it-out system.
“They pass the ball, they are
not afraid to pass the ball, and
that is what they go to,” said
defensive end Max Holloway, who
has filled in for the injured Alex
Albright. “We’re going to have a
lot of pressure on us to get pressure on the quarterback. Coach
[Comissiong] told us [Duke]
is the least sacked team in the
ACC, because they have a good

line, but they are quick to throw
the ball away.”
At this point in the season,
containing the powerful Blue
Devils offense is no easy task, but
to a defense that has allowed only
23 points in the last two games,
it is a challenge that they believe
they are more than ready for.
“We have to be solid in our
pass rush lanes, when they are
going to scramble,” said linebacker Mark Herzlich. “But if
we are sound in our defense and
our zone coverages, and match
up, then we can take away things
that they are good at.”
Mirror Images
Two weeks ago, Boston College was in the midst of a fivegame losing streak. At the same
time, Duke was experiencing
similar adversity, as the Blue
Devils had racked up a six-game
losing streak after winning their
season-opener against Elon.
Since the dark days of October, though, both the Eagles
and the Blue Devils have each
won their last two, with the Blue
Devils defeating Navy, 34-31, and
Virginia in a 55-48 shootout.
“Both teams kept fighting,”
said defensive end Brad Newman. “We both have similar
players in the fact that both go
to the school where academics
and football really matter. Both
teams have players that have
really good values and guys that
will keep fighting no matter what
your record is and will work their
butts off all season long.”
Despite their recent performances, both are still fighting
to keep their bowl chances alive.
The Eagles, now 4-5, need only
two more games to become bowleligible, and three to end the season with a winning record, while
the Blue Devils, sitting at 3-6,
need to win their last three games
to reach bowl-eligibility.
“It means something a lot
more to us and Duke than the
national rankings,” Herzlich said.
“When you look at it from an
outsider view, there is a team that
is 4-5 going against a 3-6 team.
But to us, we need to get this win,
because we had a five-game losing streak, and there is something
in winning your last four games.
It doesn’t make the season all
better … but it gives a sense of
pride, for both teams.” n

C4

THE HEIGHTS

CLASSIFIEDS
Thursday, November 11, 2010

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· Number can appear only once in each column
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Answers below
Answers to Crossword and Sudoku

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, November 11, 2010

C5

Republicans, Democrats
forced to work together
BY DAVID COTE
Heights Staff

In the wake of last week’s
midterm elections, the future of
the nation remains uncertain.
The large Republican gains in
the House of Representatives
have produced a split Congress,
and the legislative effectiveness
of the government hangs in the
balance. With a Democrat in the
White House and Republicans
in Congress, will cooperation or
disagreement result?
Two years ago, the American
people voted for change by electing President Barack Obama. Now,
the same voters have changed
their minds again. Many experts,
such as political commentator
George Will, feel that the recent
election represented “nationwide
recoil against Barack Obama’s
idea of unlimited government.”
Most of the newly-elected Republicans agree, and hope to
reverse the increased spending
that resulted over the past two
years of the Democratic majority.
Speaker in waiting John Boehner
(R-Ohio) frequently criticizes
the stimulus spending of 2009,
calling it a “spending spree” that
failed to create American jobs
and sent them abroad, instead.
In the words of Scott Brown (RMass.), the people are “tired of
business as usual, they’re tired
of political rhetoric, and they’ve
had enough.” The Republicans
will ﬁnd it hard to compromise
regarding the recent stimulus and
health care legislation, creating
disagreement that might hinder
future legislation.
Obama, on the other hand,
believes that the election was a
“referendum on the economy” and
that the Democrats were unfairly
blamed for the struggling circumstances they had inherited. Rather

than reﬂecting a criticism of the
American people on the government’s actions, President Obama
argues that the election was won
by the Republicans as a result of
the state of the economy and a
perception that the Democrats
have failed to solve the problem.
In the opinion of the Democrats,
continuing the recent policies of
increased spending will be the
best way to proceed and the only
way to repair the economy. This
fundamental disagreement could
be crucial in the coming months,
as Republicans attempt to counteract the legislation which has
been passed by the Democratic
majority over the past two years.
Despite these differences,
bipartisanship was a huge part of
Obama’s 2008 campaign and presumably a trend he will attempt
to continue over the next election
cycle, especially because of the
presence of a divided Congress.
Cooperation between the two parties has the potential to produce
valuable results for the American
people by cutting unemployment
and righting a struggling economy.
On the other hand, failure to cooperate could result in a stagnant
government that fails to produce
effective legislation.
There is hope, though, as both
sides agree that something must
be done. Boehner told reporters
in a recent interview that the Republicans “know if we do nothing,
this crisis is likely to worsen and
put us in an economic slump the
likes of which we have never seen.”
Both parties realize that action
is needed to right the economy.
Obama released a statement
after the election, saying he was
looking forward to working with
Republican leaders to “ﬁnd common ground, move the country
forward, and get things done for
the American people.” In this,

there is a glimmer of potential.
If both parties realize the severity of the situation, and are able
to dispose of even a modicum of
partisanship to work together and
solve the nation’s problems, the
future of the American economy
looks somewhat brighter.
Most economists predict that
the economy will right itself over
the course of the next few years.
With a Democratic president,
the American people will most
likely attribute this success to
the Democrats, regardless of
legislative production over the
next two years. The pressure is
subsequently on the Republicans
to cooperate, as failure to do so
will result in the production of
no legislation at all and a very
negative public image. Though
they may have won the House, the
Republicans certainly have not
won the government. As we have
seen in the complete reversal of
voter behavior between the past
two elections, the Republicans
cannot rely on the continued
support of their constituents for
their campaigns in 2014, and must
cooperate with the Democrats or
risk losing credibility. After all,
they were elected to try to solve
our nation’s problems, and failing to do so could result in angry
constituents.
Over the next two years, voters
expect the Democrats and Republicans to put the recent election
behind them. While the motives
of voters have been an important
inﬂuence on legislation throughout American history, continuing
analysis of the recent reversal of
the voters will only result in continued disagreement between the
two parties. As the President said,
it is imperative that partisanship
be set aside for the betterment of
the American economy and the
American people. 

CHARLES DHARAPAH/ AP PHOTO

House Speaker-elect Boehner, left, and President Obama will be forced to cooperate during the next legislative session.

Newt Gingrich Former House Speaker
BY MATT PALAZZOLO
Asst. Marketplace Editor
Newton Leroy Gingrich was born on June 17,
1943, in Harrisburg, Penn. He received a PhD in
modern European history from Tulane University and taught history at the University of West
Georgia from 1970 to 1978. During his tenure at
West Georgia, he narrowly lost two elections to
Democratic representative Jack Flynt. Flynt
retired in 1978, and Gingrich won the seat. He
was easily reelected six times
As a member of Congress, Gingrich aggressively targeted Congressman of both parties who
committed acts of questionable legality. In 1983,
he demanded the impeachment of fellow Republicans Dan Crane and Gerry Studds for having
sexual relationships with 17-year-old pages. In
1988, he successfully forced the resignation of
Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright
for ethics violations in accepting a book deal.
He replaced Minority Whip Dick Cheney in 1989
after Cheney became Defense Secretary under

President George H.W. Bush.
In 1994, Republicans gained control of
both chambers of Congress in the midterm
elections. Gingrich was the main architect of
the Contract with America, an outline of the
GOP legislation goals during the ﬁrst 100 days
of Congress, which helped propel the victory.
As House speaker, he supervised the creation
of the ﬁrst Congressional Internet database.
Gingrich also worked with President Clinton
to pass welfare reform. However, his popularity
plummeted after he engineered a partial government shutdown and pursued impeachment
against the popular President Clinton. In 1998,
he resigned as House Speaker and Georgia
representative.
After resigning, Gingrich joined the conservative think tank American Enterprise
Institute. He is a frequent contributor to Fox
News and has produced numerous political
ﬁlms and books. Gingrich declined a presidential run in 2008, but has expressed interest in
running in 2012. 

GERO BRELOER / AP PHOTO

Former House Speaker and Republican activist Newt Gingrich gives the thumbs-up to supporters in Georgia.

INTERNATIONAL INSIGHTS

U.S. domestic elections have international repercussions
BINH NGUYEN
Last Tuesday, Massachusetts remained a Democratic
state while the rest of the
country turned Republican. As
an international student, I am
amazed by how the midterm
election results could affect the
United States’ direction for the
future. Political scientists predict that the shift in Congress
will hinder President Obama’s
economic and domestic initiatives. A Republican majority in
Congress will also challenge the
incumbent president on foreign
policy issues, which matter to
voters much more in presidential campaigns than in midterm
elections.
The relationship between
the U.S. and Russia will likely
stand some damage from this
election. Obama needs Congress to agree on three major
policy changes: A U.S.-Russia
arms control treaty to decrease
nuclear arsenals and resume
inspection, a civilian nuclear
agreement to allow more cooperation, and ﬁnally, a repeal
of remaining Cold
War trade
restrictions
that prevent
Russia from
joining the
World Trade Organization (WTO). When Demo-

crats still had control of both
houses, persuading Congress to
approve any of these policies
was already a challenge. With
Republicans gaining control of
the House and building forces
in the Senate, these proposals
are encountering even more
obstacles. I think President
Obama has made so many
promises that he put himself in
a problematic situation. Should
Obama be unable to realize his
ambitious goals, it will damage
the so-called “reset” policy and
decrease Russia’s respect for
America.
Obama has decided to push
the departing Senate to ratify
the treaty in a lame-duck session this month. “This is not
a traditionally Democratic or
Republican issue, but rather
an issue of American national
security,” he said. If Obama
cannot win approval before
the old Senate adjourns, the
U.S. will lose
an important
ally when the
country needs
Russia to
pursue several agendas:
Cooperation
on Iran,

nonproliferation, Afghanistan,
and terrorism. The president
also needs Congress to decide
on a revived civilian nuclear
cooperation agreement negotiated by President George W.
Bush. Congress has 90 days
either to turn the agreement
down or approve it. Only two
weeks remain to meet the 90day requirement. The newly
strengthened Republican base
could put in conditions what
would be hard to satisfy. The
last Obama initiative has not
yet been sent to Congress. He
wants to remove the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the
trade act of 1974 that imposes
restrictions on Moscow. Republicans could use the issue
as a proxy debate about Russia,
which will essentially stall or
block Moscow’s entry into the
WTO. So far, I have not seen
progress in any of these initiatives.
Southeast Asia’s main
concern with the midterm
election is that the Obama
administration could lose its
focus on monitoring China’s
growing inﬂuence in the area.
The U.S. has recently tried to
back some Asian countries to
stand up to China’s expanding power.
By proposing an
international

DMITRY ASTAKHOV/ AP PHOTO

forum to resolve maritime
conﬂicts with Southeast Asian
nations and Japan, the U.S.
also risks incurring more wrath
from China.
Beijing, however, welcomes
the win of the Republicans
because their strong domestic
focus will likely reduce U.S.
efforts internationally. China
generally prefers Republican presidents over
Democrats, who usually
focus more on humanrights issues. The Bush
administration, for
instance, ﬁxed
foreign policy
mainly regarding Iraq and
Afghanistan,
and was not
as confrontational as
the Obama
administration. Nevertheless, I think
that both parties
are concerned
with what China
plans to do with its
growing economic
and military power.
Both agree that
measures must
be taken against
Beijing’s undervaluation of the
currency, which
needs to be raised
against the dollar
so that American
goods can better compete in
international

markets.
The new Republican presence in Congress can back
Obama’s policies in Afghanistan when Democrats are losing
faith with the almost decadelong conﬂict. This may push
the president to slow plans
to begin withdrawing from
Afghanistan in July. In the
Middle East, Republican
wins probably will limit
Obama’s agenda in his
sponsorship of peace
talks between Israelis
and Palestinians. The
president has
demanded that
Israel make
concessions to
the Palestinians on
settlement
building in
the West
Bank.
Obama
has left the
country to tour
Asia, which would
allow him the
chance to get away
from the challenges
of domestic and
economic policies
at home. The truth
of the matter is
that the American
economy was the
prime concern of
U.S. voters in the
midterm election
and will remain so
in the presidential
election just
two years away.

In this complex situation, I do
not think Obama will be able
to really focus on a particular foreign affairs issue. The
greater number of Republicans
in Congress does not help, but
only brings more trouble to
the incumbent president. In
my opinion, an atmosphere
of bipartisanship needs to
materialize in the near future in
both the House and the Senate,
so that the government move
beyond a period of division and
polarization.
Binh Nguyen is a staff columnist for
The Heights. He welcomes comments
at marketplace@bcheights.com.

C6

Thursday, November 11, 2010

THE HEIGHTS

Obama addresses
many issues on trip
From Asia Trip, C8

DANNY MARTINEZ

MATT PALAZZOLO

Will you read former President Bush’s new memoir,
‘Decision Points’?

I want to read it and hear it
in his funny voice, the one
that Will Ferrell made a
living off of.

Yes, at least he can’t
mispronounce nuclear in
a book.

As long as it includes as
much hating on Kanye
West as his book tour, then
it’s at the top of my list.

It’s on my reading list, right
behind Jon Stewart’s Earth.

Was Keith Olbermann
rightly suspended by
MSNBC for making
campaign contributions to
Democrats?

That doesn’t make sense
- I’m pretty sure most
MSNBC viewers would be
appalled that he wasn’t
making contributions.

He should have copied Fox
News and offered the candidates jobs on MSNBC
instead.

He was rightly suspended,
not for making campaign
donations, but for being an
insufferable prick.

Objectivity is paramount in
journalism. MSNBC was
too soft.

Can Lisa Murkowski win
her write-in candidacy in
Alaska?

Yes, I think she will - Yay
grassroots (ice/snow?)
democracy!

Only if she stars in a TLC
reality show and creates
new English words.

As long as Alaskans are
able to accomplish the
difﬁcult task of writing.

She has the votes. And
another Tea Partier bites
the dust.

Will Obama resolve currency disputes with China
at the G-20 summit?

No, he will continue the
American tradition of ignoring what the world says with
respect to monetary policy.

Of course, if he can’t sell
his monetary policy to the
American people, why not
try a Communist instead?

After election day, he better
stop kowtowing to our
commie overlords and get
something accomplished.

Obama doesn’t hold
enough leverage to force
the Chinese to reevaluate
the yuan.

Marketplace Editor

Asst. Marketplace Editor

HILARY CHASSE

PATRICK GALLAGHER

Opinions Editor

Assoc. News Editor

because of the oil spill in the Gulf
of Mexico) have dimmed support
for Obama in Indonesia. “When
he was just elected as president,
we were so excited and thought,
whoa, one of us made it as the
United States’ president. Can you
imagine, a kid that played pebble
with us is president? That’s really
mind blowing. We never thought
of this chubby, odd-looking boy
becoming an important ﬁgure. But
now, the magic is gone, at least for
me,” Zulfan Adi, a childhood friend
of Obama’s, told reporters.
Israel’s recent settlement announcement has also hindered
Obama’s trip. On Friday, the Israeli
government published its intent to
build 1,000 housing units in East
Jerusalem. This comes in light of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s meeting with Vice
President Joe Biden in New Orleans on Sunday. “I’m concerned
that we’re not seeing each side
making the extra effort involved
to get a breakthrough,” President
Obama told reporters after a dinner

with Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono. In response,
Netanyahu released a statement
claiming that “Israel sees no link
between the peace process and its
development plans in Jerusalem.’’
Last Wednesday, President
Obama visited Southeast Asia’s
largest mosque, the Istiqlal
Mosque, and gave an open-air
speech to the Indonesian people.
The speech hoped to enlighten Indonesians on the forces of democracy and economic progress. Due
to a forecasted ash cloud from an
Indonesian volcano, however, the
trip was cut short and Obama had
to depart for his next stop in Seoul.
Obama said that he had made
“progress” in the U.S. relationship
with the Muslim population, but
there was still some “mistrust.”
“What we’re trying to do is make
sure that we are building bridges
and expanding our interactions
with Muslim countries,” Obama
told reporters after a joint news
conference with the Indonesian
president. Obama plans to wrap up
the trip in Japan before returning
home to the U. S. 

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Loko packs a dangerous punch with caffeine, alcohol mix
RACHEL NEWMILLER
Two substances are present in relatively large amounts on nearly every college campus: caffeine and alcohol. The
former is utilized to temporarily overcome the tiredness experienced by many
students, providing an extra “boost”
to make it through two lectures and an
exam after a night of little sleep. The
latter is a staple at social gatherings,
causing its consumer to “loosen up,”
with potentially dangerous results. The
combination of these two compounds
is becoming increasingly more popular,
and one caffeinated alcoholic beverage
in particular, the Four Loko, has been
receiving attention across the nation.
An outpouring of concern regarding
this product stemmed from a recent incident involving nine underage Central
Washington University students, who
became seriously ill and were hospitalized after attending an off-campus
party in early October. When investigators arrived on the scene, they found a
number of “very intoxicated” students,
including three females “who appeared
to be in serious medical distress”
and others who were “passed out.” In
the police report, one of the ofﬁcers
describes the inside of the house as
containing “a lot of empty beer cans,
empty energy drink cans, bottles of
hard liquor, and plastic cups ﬁlled
with clear and amber colored liquids
… [along with] large, 24-oz. cans of an
alcoholic drink called Four Loko.”
According to a letter written by
Washington state’s attorney general
Rob McKenna and sent to the Food
and Drug Administration, the students’
blood alcohol levels “ranged from 0.123
(legally drunk) to 0.35 – a lethal level of
alcohol poisoning. One young woman
was put on a respirator and nearly

died. The investigation concludes that
the students – all under 21 years old
– combined AEDs (alcoholic energy
drinks) with other kinds of alcohol. It is
clear from interviews with more than 40
students that these youths did not know
what they were getting into, probably
because a single 23.5 ounce can of the
AED Four Loko… is 12 percent alcohol.
That is comparable to drinking ﬁve or
six beers.”
McKenna also raised concerns about
the ﬂavorings used in these products to
mask the taste of alcohol and the packaging of the cans, which appears similar
to that of non-alcoholic energy drinks.
He concluded that these drinks, often
referred to as a “blackout in a can” or
“liquid cocaine” due to their intoxicating effects, “do not comport with FDA
guidelines and present a serious threat
to public health and safety.”
This is not the ﬁrst time illness has
been linked to the consumption of caffeinated alcoholic beverages, as a similar
incident also occurred at Ramapo
College in New Jersey. Both universities
have banned Four Lokos from their campuses. Some lawmakers are also pushing
for new legislation to ban the sale of
these products. In addition, a review
by the FDA is currently underway, after
the agency’s November 2009 request
that nearly 30 manufacturers provide
evidence that their drinks are safe.
As one would imagine, the company behind the production of Four
Loko, Chicago-based Phusion Projects, released a statement in response
to the recent uproar. “No one is more
upset than we are when our products
are abused or consumed illegally by
underage drinkers – and it appears that
both happened in this instance. This
is unacceptable. But so, too, is placing
blame for the incident squarely on Four
Loko when the police report, toxicology reports, and witness testimony all
show that other substances, including
beer, hard liquors like vodka and rum,
and possibly illicit substances, were
consumed as well.”
Regardless of which side of the
argument you may ﬁnd yourself on, it is

ELAINE THOMPSON/ AP PHOTO

The popular energy drink / alcohol combination beverage Four Loko has been increasingly criticized for its potentially life-threatening health
important to understand why caffeinated alcoholic drinks have been deemed
hazardous by medical professionals.
Boston College’s Director of Health Services, Dr. Thomas Nary, sent an email to
students stating that Four Loko, which
“approximates six shots of alcohol and
ﬁve cups of coffee,” is “a dangerous
concoction that can create a number
of severe reactions, some of which have
been life-threatening.” He warned that
this drink should be avoided by the BC
community.
Professor Ken Briggs, the chair of
Central Washington University’s physical education school and public health
department, called these products “a
binge-drinker’s dream” because the
caffeine and other stimulants contained
within them allow a person to consume
large amounts of alcohol without passing out. “Being able to feel the effects
of tiredness, loss of coordination, and
even passing out or vomiting are the
body’s defenses against consuming
doses of alcohol that will kill you,” he

told reporters. However, once a person’s
blood alcohol level reaches a certain
elevation, he or she “can still drop like a
box of rocks.”
In other words, the depressant effects of alcohol, which often force you
to stop drinking, are disguised by the
stimulating abilities of caffeine, causing you to continue consuming while
making it difﬁcult to realize the extent
of your inebriation. As seen in the cases
of the students proﬁled above, this can
have disastrous consequences, including (but certainly not limited to) severe
alcohol poisoning.
On a related note, it should also be
mentioned that a recent study published by researchers at the University
of Florida revealed some frightening
information about the relationship
between energy drink consumption and
alcohol intoxication. Focusing on the
effects of mixing energy drinks and alcohol (i.e. Red Bull and vodka and “Jager bombs”) and armed with the knowledge that this mix may desensitize

drinkers to the effects of intoxication
(leading to the potential for increased
injury), the group conducted an alcohol
ﬁeld study of 802 bar patrons. They
found that people who consumed an alcohol / energy drink mixture were three
times more likely to leave the bar highly
intoxicated and four times more likely
to intend on driving (when compared
to those who did not consume alcohol
mixed with energy drinks). Thus, the
study “contributes to the growing body
of literature indicating that this drinking behavior has negative health and
safety consequences in young adults.”
Although consumption is a personal
choice, students should be aware of the
risks of drinking caffeinated alcoholic
beverages (or mixing energy drinks with
alcohol) while heeding the warnings of
professionals, which are grounded in
scientiﬁc reality.
Rachel Newmiller is a staff columnist for
The Heights. She welcomes comments at
marketplace@bcheights.com.

More than 700 Congolese
women raped, UN reports
From Congo, C8

protection of civilians lies with
the state, its national army, and
police force, clearly we have also
failed. Our actions were not adequate, resulting in unacceptable
brutalization of the population of
the villages in the area. We must do
better,” he said. Congo’s UN ambassador, Ileka Atoki, expressed
his “deep disgust” with the rapes,
while noting the small amount
of progress in the UN Security
Council’s investigation of the attacks. “These heinous acts that
have become a weapon of war are
one more episode of the unspeakable suffering that the people of
Congo have been plunged in for
more than a decade now,” Atoki
told reporters.
While there does not seem to
be a deﬁnitive reason for the rape
of those expelled from Angola,
in the past, crimes of this nature
have been fueled by highly pursued

conflict minerals such as gold,
tantalum, tin, and tungsten. These
minerals have a place in almost
every computer and cell phone in
the world, and, thus, can serve as a
source of revenue for those armed
groups who seek them.
On July 23, President Obama
signed into law the Dodd-Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in an attempt to
abolish the “see no evil” approach
of Congo mineral users around
the world. It is projected that
over time these minerals will lose
their value, leading to a decline in
violence in the Congo.
For those thousands of Congolese women victimized by sexual
violence, relief cannot come soon
enough. Shedla Abedi, age 62
and from the Congolese village
of Kampala, spoke on behalf of
the 35 women raped in her community. “We are in pain,” she said.
Unfortunately, it is unknown how
many other women like Abedi

have experienced these traumatic
events. The annual number of
victims in the Congo can be
estimated in the thousands, yet
a definitive number cannot be
established. Too many cases go
unreported or without notice.
The reports show that 700 women
were victims of the Congo-Angola
border rapes, but in reality, the
number was most likely much
higher.
The rapes have had their affect
on local communities. Abedi’s fellow Kampala village community
member, Mawaza Misori, made
this clear when speaking with UN
representatives. “We don’t know
the real reason these people won’t
leave us alone,” she told reporters.
“It’s like the devil attacking for
no reason. We had the courage to
speak out in public because we’ve
had enough. We’re like dying
people who are no longer afraid
because they know they’re at the
end of their journey.” 

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

C7

A Green Piece

Despite U.S. inaction, Mass. passes global warming laws
Elizabeth Barthelmes
As the UN’s 1997 Kyoto
Protocol is set to expire in 2012,
the international community
has been busy debating the
future of these policies aimed
to reduce the impact of climate
change. With 186 signatories
to the protocol, the key industrial nations of China and the
United States have remained
hesitant to commit, slowing
potential progress in this arena.
The world watched in December
2009 as meetings of the UN’s
Framework Committee on Climate Change failed to establish
commitments beyond Kyoto,
and again in July 2010, as the
U.S. Senate eliminated cap and
trade policies from the federal
energy bill. While these events
were disappointments for the
environmental sector, such debates are expected to continue.
Greenhouse gases do not
stem from a point source that
can be easily marked and reduced, and cover most industrial processes, transportation,
and agricultural pursuits. In
addition, the impacts of greenhouse gases apply to everyone,
but vary in their effect by region
along with the political and
economic conditions under
which they take place.
With a multitude of factors
that need to be considered for
accurate and efficient climate
policy, a cohesive international
plan is necessary, but difficult
to establish. As nations face a

slow and complex process to
achieving these goals, many are
hopeful, however, focusing energy on the state level. The state
has the ability to adopt plans
that closely analyze the areas
that need improvement while
considering the local communities, economies and infrastructures. Projects that are
proposed can effectively work
with existing legislation, making
the most of the state’s resources
and improving the overall quality of the state while reducing
emissions. Massachusetts’s
establishment of its own Global
Warming Solutions Act (GWSA)
in 2008, under Governor
Patrick’s Administration, stands
as a leading example of how this
system can work and could help
our country to succeed.
Massachusetts was one of
the first states in the nation to
seriously address the challenges of climate change, by
realizing not only the need to
incorporate greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions reductions in
future planning, but to develop
a “comprehensive regulatory
program to address climate
change” through the GWSA.
Speaking with Massachusetts
Representative Frank Smizik,
chairman of the new House
Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, he
explained that the state needed
a capstone to existing programs
at the time, such as the Green
Jobs Act, Oceans Act, Clean Energy Biofuels Act, and Regional
Greenhouse Gas Initiative,
which function throughout the
Northeast states. Building upon
these policies, the GWSA established the implementation plan
to reduce emissions “between

10 percent and 25 percent below
statewide 1990 GHG emission levels by 2020” and “80
percent below statewide 1990
GHG emission levels by 2050.”
These targets are aided with
the Mandatory GHG Emissions
Reporting Program under the
Department of Environmental
Protection for the state’s largest emitters. Starting in 2011,
entities emitting over 25,000
tons of carbon dioxide per year
will need state verification and
eventually must face limitations
on their emissions. Three years
into the act, a great amount of
research has been conducted
by the state to identify crucial
areas for reduction and low cost
reduction, which will allow them
to reach these goals.
From such research, new
programs have also developed,
such as GreenDot and the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard, which
aim to reduce transportation
emissions while increasing
smart growth and community access to public transit,
walking trails, and bike paths.
Transportation is currently the
largest source of carbon-dioxide emissions in Massachusetts,
but through these initiatives
and the goals of the GWSA it
can be effectively targeted in
ways that are beneficial to the
state, unlike a federal program
might. Lee Dillard Adams,
manager of the GWSA Implementation at Massachusetts
Department of Environmental
Protection, explained that in
addition to addressing the
needs of the public, groups
developing the GWSA also
work closely with business and
utilities to make the implementation plan comprehensive.

michael saldarriaga / heights photo illustration

Adams believes that “if we’re
on the forefront of these issues,
we gain an economic advantage
as the nation begins to make
these transitions,” and that
hopefully by promoting green
jobs and technology the state
can grow within these areas.
Amid an economic downturn,
these programs are beginning
to reveal that not only are they
useful in emission reductions,
but they drastically improve the
quality of life for Massachusetts
citizens. Smizik reiterated the
importance of working with
the business community, as
“jobs and clean energy are ways
of moving the environmental
aspects of this forward – it’s
a positive future for everyone,
not just environmentalists.”

Already, they are seeing job
growth in the energy sector in
terms of local and state-wide
conservation, increases in recycling and home retrofits, wind
energy that will bring a variety
of jobs building and selling
turbines to other states, and innovative solar technologies.
Development within all of
these areas inspires optimism
among Massachusetts citizens
about its future in reducing
emissions by at least 10 percent
in the 1990 baseline by 2020, if
not going above and beyond. As
these systems are implemented
and economies grow in renewables, there will ultimately be a
steady increase in the amount
of emissions we are able to
reduce, and hopefully, a transi-

tion away from our current
modes of energy production. As
these issues are inherently connected to a variety of sectors,
Adams explained, “Political
leadership is key to maintaining our progress and keeping
these goals on track for areas
of the state.” Massachusetts is
raising the standards for state
climate change policy, with
hopes that others will learn
from their models and establish
its own plans. If they are lucky,
however, federal policy might
just happen to follow in their
footsteps.
Elizabeth Barthelmes is a staff
columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at marketplace@
bcheights.com.

Hip-hop evolves with history
From Hip Hop, C8

But that was then. In the
Bush years, it was Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’,” a song about
police brutality and racial
profiling of African-American
males. Remember when 50
Cent turned out to be a snitch?
He just wasn’t a force in the
industry after that. The time
of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” a
poignant expose of life on the
edge of despair, deep in poverty,
and a narrative of the difficulty
of achieving a better life, or
“White America,” an incisive
song about racial identity.
Shortly before Clinton’s time
there was Dan Quayle saying
Tupac’s music had “no place
in our society.” (That criticism could not have been more
misplaced – while the “family
values” that Quayle championed are important, freedom of
expression is paramount.) That
was the time of the East CoastWest Coast battle, an eerie, distorted echo of the Civil Rights
movement, when the inhabitants
of America’s underside were
arrayed against each other, and
out-of-control violence took the
place of orderly protests.
Back in those days, hiphop was a loud scream that
shattered the picture-perfect
conservative complacency
conceived during the Reagan
years, which continued into
the Clinton presidency as well
as those of the two Bushes.
The warm California sun of the
Reagan administration left the

inner cities, along with issues
of poverty, race, and gender,
largely in the wings. Aside from
Nancy Reagan’s meek “Just
Say No” campaign against
drug abuse, the ’80s were, for
hip-hop artists, largely a time
of meager innovation. Not much
would change in the ’90s, as the
Gulliver of the federal government stretched unfeelingly over
America’s cities, crushing some
and ignoring others. The shootouts and insults hurled at police
in the ’90s were thus a call for
action – and for attention. The
hip-hop movement was violent
and explosive, and politicians
were not sure about how to approach it.
Enter Barack Obama. Here
was a positive image for hip-hop
listeners, a respectable figure for
rappers – “I used to run my own
block like Obamaville,” boasts
Young Jeezy. Obama was tough,
unafraid to ask the difficult
questions, ready to tear down
the barriers to achievement
gaps in elementary education
with the “race to the top,” and
willing to put new low-income
housing in poor neighborhoods.
The biggest hits of the genre today, perhaps not coincidentally,
are more positive tunes along
the lines of “Run this Town”
and “Shut it Down.” For better
or worse, the high drama, the
pleasure and pain, just doesn’t
rise to the degree of those earlier days. It doesn’t make sense
to be against the establishment
when the establishment is looking out for you.

But the strong tradition
of self-expression present in
America did not go anywhere.
Now that the cause of hip-hop
is by and large on the White
House agenda, a new and
very different voice of opposition, with a very different set
of beliefs, has emerged on the
national stage – or is it really
that different? It is grassroots,
chaotic, spontaneous, and one
which neither Democrats nor
Republicans want to claim – the
Tea Party.
This new phenomenon also
places high stock on individual
rights and protests the evils of
the sprawling, clumsy central
government. It also calls out
for a charismatic and dynamic
leader to meld together the
various focal points of the
movement. The ideology is
based on the Constitution, pure
and simple (it is an interesting
remix of history, which rekindles
a friendship between Jefferson
and Hamilton). Sarah Palin is
a martyr of sorts, who lost her
vice-presidential bid and was
reborn as a prominent speaker
for the movement.
Only time will tell how
the Tea Party movement will
ultimately play out, and which
leader will take up its cause.
For the time being, however, it
is both an interesting, oppositional voice and exceptional
entertainment.
Olena Savytska is a staff columnist for
The Heights. She welcomes comments
at marketplace@bcheights.com.

Many Burmese disillusioned
by widespread election fraud
From Burma, C8

scape in Burma during the weeks
preceding the elections posed
problems for outside sources,
as the Burmese people have
been shut off from the Internet
and foreign journalists have
been barred from conducting
interviews or polling. The candidates for prime minister have
had no debates, the parties have
not been granted permission
to hold rallies, and many of the
candidates for parliament are
members of the military running
under the banner of the nation’s
two major parties, which are
both supported by the same
military that currently exercises
rule over the nation. As a result
of perceived fraud, many voters
boycotted the election or did not
vote out of apathy, with turnout
lingering around 20 percent in
some parts of the country.
The concerns of the Burmese
people that have caused many
to doubt the legitimacy of their
government have been echoed by
international bodies. The United
Nations, over the two weeks
before the elections were even
held, expressed concern about
the legitimacy of the elections,
particularly considering Burma’s
ongoing imprisonment of Aung
San Suu Kyi, the winner of the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize and a
former General Secretary for the
National League for Democracy.
In the 1990 Burmese general
elections, the most recent election since that of 2010, Suu Kyi
and her opposition party took
nearly 60 percent of the vote.
However, the military disre-

garded the result of her election,
placing her under house arrest
and keeping the nation under
military rule. Although she is
finally set to be released from
her imprisonment on Nov. 13,
she was not eligible to run in
the 2010 elections, despite her
nationwide popularity.
Numerous other international
bodies have condemned the elections as fraudulent, declaring the
process and the barring of Suu
Kyi outrageous. U. S. president
Barack Obama declared, “It is
unacceptable to steal an election,
as the regime in Burma has done
again for all the world to see.”
These charges stem from widespread reports of voter intimidation, bribery, and even vote-rigging. Those with government jobs
were told that they would be out
of work were they not to vote for
the prevailing Union Solidarity
and Development Party (USDP),
and those relying on the government for economic support were
told their aid would be cut off if
they voted for a different party.
In addition, many voters were
paid for their votes, with some
even being offered better social
services.
Another concern is the
amount of advance votes that
had been cast during the election. Likely to ensure control of
their exact margin of victory, the
USDP placed tens of thousands
of advance votes into separate
ballot boxes, with nearly all being cast by members of the government or military. Though the
opposition parties actually had
a lead before the counting of the
advance votes, the USDP ended

up winning about 80 percent of
the seats in parliament.
The violence that has resulted
from these elections represents
the continued struggles of the
oppressed Burmese people. Unable to hold valid elections to
enact change in their nation, the
people have become disillusioned
by the impossibility of bettering
their lives through their flawed
and illegitimate political system.
With thousands of Burmese
citizens fleeing to Thailand, the
problems of this country have
only grown after an election that
military parties used to attempt
to legitimize their sham democracy.
That Burma’s people are
escalating violence against the
government is not a major surprise, but this violence will only
exacerbate the nation’s problems
with instability. Although civil
war is, at the moment, likely to
break out, the Burmese people
can make greater strides toward
justice through political rebellion. By garnering increased
international support, particularly from influential bodies like
the U. N., and by working against
government policies that prevent
the leaking of information to
outside sources, the Burmese
people can give the world a
better picture of their struggles,
and use this support to push for
increased international aid. Only
with international intervention
can Burma truly work toward
creating a just government.
Dan Ottaunick is an editor for The
Heights. He welcomes comments at
marketplace@bcheights.com.

President Obama recently began his
10-day, four-nation trip to Asia in the
hopes of bolstering international opinion
and jump-starting economic growth. Recently, diplomatic symbolism has played
a major role in the acknowledgment of the
rise of emerging markets. “We’ve had this
focus on Asia and on emerging powers and
on democracies as kind of cornerstones
of the kind of strategic orientation of the
United States in the 21st century,” Ben
Rhodes, Deputy National Security adviser
and Obama speech writer, told reporters.
“India ﬁts ﬁrmly in that category and so
does Indonesia.”
The ﬁrst three days of Obama’s visit

were spent in India. While the stay was
widely considered successful by both the
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and his cabinet, it ended with controversy
and criticism. The Federal Reserve announced that it would be purchasing $600
billion worth of U.S. Treasury Bonds in an
effort to combat a stagnant unemployment rate in the United States. Due to
the weakening of the dollar as a result,
countries such as China and Germany
have come out and criticized the U.S. for
its supposed hypocrisy.
Despite the Federal Reserve being an
entity separate from the White House,
President Obama voiced his support. “I
will say that the Fed’s mandate, my mandate, is to grow our economy. And that’s
not just good for the United States, that’s

UN: We have ‘failed’ Congo
BY MICHELA GACIOCH
Heights Staff

IN THE NEWS

On Friday, the United Nations
revealed its concern that rape has become an epidemic in parts of Central
Africa’s Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC). Over the past decade,
it has not been uncommon for rebel
groups to ravage small villages and
brutalize women, an unfortunate
reality which has caused UN ofﬁcials
to refer to the nation as a “Mecca for
sexual violence.”
“What worries us is that rape
seems to be becoming endemic in
several parts of Congo,” Maurizio
Giuliano, a UN spokesman for the
country, told reporters. Margot Wallstrom, the UN secretary general’s
special representative on sexual crime
in conﬂict, conﬁrmed this fear. “The
sad reality is that incidents of rape
have become so commonplace that
they do not trigger our most urgent
interventions,” she told reporters.
Currently, the United Nations Ofﬁce for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is investigating
reports that, since September, 700
women have been raped along the
DRC-Angola border. The rapes were
said to occur as nearly 7,000 illegal
immigrants were being expelled from
Angola to its western neighbor, the
Congo. According to UN ofﬁcials, for
two weeks the victims were detained in
a dungeon-like chamber and systematically raped by security forces. At
least three of them were killed, while
the survivors were released and forced
to return to the DRC completely nude
and without any of their belongings.

good for the world as a whole,” Obama
told reporters. While many see the excess
liquidity as problematic, some countries
have strongly protested such a move.
“The U.S. decision does not recognize, as
a country that issues one of the world’s
major reserve currencies, its obligation
to stabilize capital markets,” Chinese
vice ﬁnance minister Zhu Guangyao told
reporters.
Furthermore, Germany has lashed out
against the U.S. for promoting frameworks
that would limit a country’s trade balances, yet purposely devaluing their own
currency. One of the top economic advisers
to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev
said Russia will strongly support the idea
of the Federal Reserve consulting other
countries before making major-policy
decisions at the G-20 Summit. The move
by the Federal Reserve could hinder efforts
for countries to come to a breakthrough
on trade budget talks at the Summit.
“We want China to succeed and prosper,”

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANNEL 4 NEWS

The UN confirmed that during the
captivity period at least one woman
died from rape-related internal injuries. Giuliano said Friday that it is still
unclear on which side of the border the
women were attacked, and he is calling
on both countries to perform thorough
investigations.
Despite the continued interest of
Giuliano and other international peacekeepers, the sexual crime rates in both
Angola and the DRC have yet to waver
even slightly. A few months before the
sudden surge of expulsion attacks took
place, more than 200 women were raped
in a single rudimentary village in the
eastern Congo by both Rwandan and
Congolese rebels. Peacekeepers sent by
the UN were less than 12 miles away as
the onslaught took place.

It is neither uncommon nor illegal for
the two countries to expel each other’s
citizens. According to the UN, last year
alone Angola expelled 160,000 Congolese, while the DRC removed 51,000
Angolans. The UN has been criticized
for the way it has dealt with the violent aftermath of such expulsions. The
world’s largest UN peacekeeping mission
is facing criticism for allegedly ignoring
warnings from African community leaders before Rwandan and Congolese rebels began the raping spree that affected
more than 200 women in the Eastern
Congo. Atul Khare, the UN assistant
secretary general for peacekeeping,
concedes that mistakes have been made.
“While the primary responsibility for

See Congo, C6

POLITICS

ECONOMICS

Former president George W.
Bush released his memoir, Decision
Points, on Tuesday. In the book, Bush
describes the most controversial actions of his presidency.

Both Democrat and GOP members of the
Congressional tax committees pledge to ﬁx
the so-called wealth tax. The tax, unaltered
for inﬂation, would affect both middle and
upper class families.

A group of UK hospitals received a
grant to develop an STD test for smartphones. The phone would analyze
samples of spit or urine on a computer
chip.

The Alaska division of elections began counting absentee ballots. Lisa
Murkowski still maintains a slim lead
over Joe Miller in the vote count.

Following massive electoral fraud,
Burma has seen a growing number of
border clashes caused by disillusioned
citizens. The riots, which are taking
place at the border of Burma (ofﬁcially
Myanmar) and Thailand, have sparked
widespread condemnation of the sham
Burmese government. With civil war a

THIS ISSUE

growing possibility, it is important to
take an in-depth look at the development of Burma’s political unrest.
The Burmese general elections,
which were held on Nov. 7, were suspect
before even being held. The Burmese
military, which is, to a large extent, in
control of the government, had been
ordering citizens to vote so that they
may promote a democratic government.
This democracy, which was to form the
ﬁrst Burmese parliament in over 20
years, would allow for a transition from
a government led by the military to one,
at least in theory, led by the people.
However, gauging the political land-

See Burma, C7

KHIN MAUNG WIN/ AP PHOTO

Voters line up at a polling station in Yangon, Myanmar, for the first Burmese election in 20 years.

Obama said. “We do want to make sure
everyone is operating in an international
framework and a set of rules.”
President Obama made his stop in
Indonesia already facing international
backlash. The response he received
slightly mitigated these harsh feelings.
Obama, who spent nearly four years of
his childhood in Indonesia, arrived amid
cheers from its citizens. Often, the people
of Indonesia refer to him as their “prodigal son.” Obama lived with his mother,
Stanley Ann Dunham, and stepfather,
Lolo Soetoro, from 1967 to 1971 in the
Indonesian capital of Jakarta. During
his time there, Obama attended both
public and Catholic school. He further
detailed his time there in his autobiography, Dreams From My Father. However,
a series of “false starts” (i.e. the ﬁrst trip
was cancelled due to the health care debate coming to a close, and the second

59.1

Million Americans without health
insurance in 2010. The number
rose by about 400,000 people
from 2009.

270

Cost in millions of dollars of the
cancelled New Jersey tunnel. The
Obama administration is seeking
compensation for the project.

Forecast on Washington........................................................C7
Politico of the Week....................................................C5

IN QUOTES

See Hip-Hop, C7

ACHMED IBRAHIM, CHARLES DHARAPAH / AP PHOTO

The Obamas visited with the grand imam and president of Indonesia (left), and enjoyed some free time with children on their recent 10-day trip through China, India, Indonesia, Korea, and Japan.

IN NUMBERS

Where did hip-hop go? To the playlist of a young attorney, to the dance
ﬂoor of a nightclub, to a radio station
in a remote corner of the world where
listeners may not fully understand the
meaning of the words, but may simply
appreciate the rhythm. Sure, hip-hop
is entertainment, much like other forms
of popular media, with the attendant
product endorsements (Patron and
Dom Perignon are some of the favorites) as well as clothing lines, shoes,
fragrances, and the like.
Yet at its core, hip-hop is a very
powerful doctrine of toughness,
ambition, honor, and resistance. It
is individualist in nature, making
hip-hop martyr Tupac Shakur’s stage
name Makaveli particularly appropriate within the genre. It is about power
within a community, reminiscent of the
old days of political bosses, who ﬁlled
in a vacuum created by the central
government and were able to address
the genuine concerns of their neighbors. It is a secular creed of the inner
city, complete with heroes and villains.
Since these villains are often law enforcement ofﬁcials or the government
as a whole, this genre becomes an antiestablishment political voice as well.
In this world view, as Juelz Santana
explains, Rosa Parks “was a gangster,”
as was Martin Luther King, Jr.

“ The story they told is ghastly:
one bad call after another ”
– William Reilly,
Presidential Committee Head
Discussing BP’s actions in the
lead up to the April 20th rig
explosion and subsequent oil
spill.

A Green Piece...........................................C7
International Insights............................C5

“Most kings
get their head
cut off,” so
says Jay-Z in
his interview
promoting
his new novel,
Decoded.
Fortuitously,
the arts secKristen House
tion received
a copy of
Jay’s new book (which is due out on
Nov. 16). My first thought as I took
in the glossy, hardshell white cover,
which featured a golden Rorschach
ink blot, was that it looked like a
decomposed Faberge egg. From then
on, I couldn’t say no.
Jay-Z is the lovechild of liquid
gunmetal and diamonds. If you’ve
failed to listen to his music, you have
failed to understand a man who can
enchant us with his 99 problems,
flaunt his beautiful wife (who happens to be mega-star Beyonce) at a
Lakers game, and silently make millions of dollars as a music producer.
He does it all with this incredible
astuteness, like this incredibly visible and artistically relevant Wizard
of Oz. Decoded, therefore, doesn’t
read like a self-promoting celebrity
slop-fest. It’s not on the level of Paris Hilton releasing a fragrance called
“Fairy Dust” or “Siren,” complete
with a fame-whoring ad campaign.
Jay-Z didn’t make this book just to
make it.
Glossy pages join suave memoir with photographic feats. He
footnotes his songs. Jay gives us
the meat and bones of his lyricism,
taking his songs and breaking them
down with line-by-line footnotes.
This man is incredibly cerebral, like
a superhuman that has found the
ability to combine his philosophical
debates with musical innovation.
He talks at one point about his song
“Life is But a Dream,” a song that
he wrote during post-Black Album
retirement. Jay-Z’s intention, as he
describes it, was “a meditation on
ambition and the laws of the universe, on questions I can still only
ask but not fully answer.” He says he
considers this song “as one of the
hidden jewels in my catalog,” even
though others find it to be a break
in style.
The footnotes follow this description of the song’s birth, and
Jay delivers on his whole “questions
about the universe” framework.
Footnote number one? “This song is
written like a will to an unborn child
in anticipation of the day when I
wake up from the dream of life.” The
song references everything from a
skin care line that he invests in to
the story of his nephew Colleek,
who died when he was 18 in a car
accident while driving a car that
Jay-Z had bought him.
His musings on “Beach House”
only last about four pages. There
are 306 in total. For all the credit
I’ve ever given Jay-Z, I don’t think
I ever understood him to be so
layered, so full of everyday tragedies
and soul-shaking queries. In many
ways he reminds me of myself – or
anyone I’ve talked to – at their most
vulnerable, probing, and intelligent
points. This discovery was incredibly refreshing, to say the least.
So much of what’s missing in
the entertainment industry is true
depth and heart. Perhaps I surround myself with too much Bravo
and VH1 television, Perez Hilton,
and Entertainment Tonight, but I
would assume that much of America cares little about a rapper’s
private queries about the inherent
goodness of God and humanity. But
shouldn’t we? What does a song
like “Party in the U.S.A.” give us to
hold on to other than identifying
with the enjoyment of throwing our
hands up and singing our song? I
want to know that the people representing my generation’s musical
passions are thinking about more
than their next opportunity to land
the cover of US Weekly. I don’t want
faux-humanitarians, unconvincing
lyricists, and serial daters. What
I want is an artist of substance,
who will actually have an imagination worthy of decoding in the first
place. No, Jay isn’t some innocent
Puritan — hell, his book is almost
$30 — but his cerebral musings are
a great pay off.
All hail King Jay. Here’s to hoping his head stays on his shoulders
for many more years to come.

Kristen House is the Arts & Review
Editor for The Heights. She can be
reached at houseka@bc.edu.

If there is anything we have heard enough about in the last couple weeks, it is the election. Yes, the American political system is inspired, brilliant, and perhaps the best in the world, but occasionally an outside perspective is refreshing.
There is plenty to learn about other cultures beyond what the Boston College Office of International Programs shows you in
its (undeniably riveting) pamphlets. These videos cover all the bases of high quality entertainment: Singing, dancing, and
wildly inappropriate sexual innuendos. In the end, you will be more than grateful that you hail from the good ol’ United
States of America.
— Krysia Wazny

photos courtesy of youtube.com

“Wild Thing” on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’

“Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher)”

“Get Down” – B4-4

As the title suggests, this video
features both the wild and the wide.
Ann Widecombe, former member of
British Parliament and Conservative
party member, has recently taken
up a new post as a cast member on
Strictly Come Dancing, the British
version of Dancing with the Stars.
Just try to keep a straight face as this
elderly woman is tossed, dragged, and
rolled to a beat. It gives a whole new
meaning to studying “a broad.”

If you’ve ever wondered what immigrants
coming to America from the Ellis
Island days onward would act like in a
music video, here is your answer. This
portrayal of the hardships of newly
arrived Americans seeks to drive home a
solid point, namely “No human being is
illegal.” The lead singer’s crazy Rasputin
eyes are a cultural experience in and of
themselves, while the video as a whole
ferociously exemplifies the international
nature of our own country.

The quintessential ’90s boy band that no
one in the United States has ever heard
of, B4-4, will shock and amaze audiences
with its frosted tips and risque lyrics.
The number of questionable elements in
this video is astounding. From the little
chubby kid to the homeless man and all
that lip-gloss in between, it hardly seems
possible that a coherent message might
emerge, but one certainly does. Now the
only question is, are “you gonna come
tonight … over to my house?”

bc tube

Dancing into the hearts of moms everywhere

photo courtesy of abc.com

Bristol Palin is one of many questionable Z-List celebrities dancing across our televisions on ‘mom TV’ favorite ‘Dancing with the Stars.’
If you think I
watch too much
television, meet
my mother, Debbie Ranck. You
can credit her
with my obsession. Even though
I think my TiVo
Darren Ranck
has accumulated
more pre-recordings by now, she is
the original tube surfer. Every night,
she would sit down in her study and
map out her television viewing for the
night. Each evening had a different
show or two, and no night was a blank
slate. In my younger years, I would sit
with her and watch the lineup she prepared. What we watched I can barely
remember, but I know that as I got
older I began to develop my own taste,
and slowly but surely migrated from
my mother’s study to my own room to
watch Dexter and the like.
That’s not to say my mom still
doesn’t influence my viewing choices.
She gives me instant access to what I
like to call “mom T.V.” I define “mom
TV” as television programming geared
toward a middle-aged female demographic. Some choice examples of such
shows include Desperate Housewives,
Grey’s Anatomy, and American Idol.
“Mom TV” is watched by a cross-section of demographics, but if my mother
is any indication, such shows fuel discussion at matronly social gatherings,
like book clubs.
The quintessential “mom TV”
program, though, is Dancing with the

Stars, and as much as it pains me to
admit it, I have been keeping up with
this season. Is that to say I watch it
religiously week in and week out? No,
but I know who goes home, and I watch
a fair number of the prepared dances.
I totally understand the mom appeal. It showcases fun, slightly dated
ballroom dancing, the sort of struts
baby boomers learned to prepare for
groovy school dances. It’s squeaky
clean viewing that has been drained
of blood and shrink-wrapped for your
protection. It’s harmless and easy
to follow. There’s also the inevitable
casting of an older athlete or pop icon,
who charms his way into the life of
homemakers with his gruff attitude but
three adorable children. Yes, I’m talking about you, Kurt Warner. In short,
if Dancing with the Stars were a person,
your mother would arrange your marriage to him or her.
I’ve never watched a full season
of the show, but this season was
particularly enticing because of the
abundance of celebrity train wrecks.
My mother called it one of the best
casts yet, but when you really think
about it, the most well-known people
are UPN’s Moesha, Mrs. Brady, and
a man whose abs have a sobriquet.
Yes, I speak of Mike “The Situation”
Sorrentino, who was eliminated fourth
after an unimpressive Argentine tango.
I’m pretty shocked that a man whose
daily schedule includes tanning, going
to the gym, and doing laundry doesn’t
have the necessary grace for passionate Latin dance.

The greatest misappropriation of
the term “star,” though, easily goes to
Bristol Palin, daughter of former-vice
presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
In the midst of Jennifer Gray, actress,
and Audrina Patridge, reality television star, you have Bristol Palin, teen
pregnancy prevention advocate, or
as the truncated title displayed on
screen, “teen activist.” I call her an
“issue-based hypocrite,” but I’m sure
one of the mothers at home recognizes
her from a cameo on Secret Life of the
American Teenager. The most amazing
part of her inclusion on this season is
that she’s still there. The show is down
to the final four dancers, and one of
them is Bristol Palin. Bristol, the girl
who moves with the grace of a cow.
Bristol, the girl who dressed in a gorilla suit one week and promptly forgot
all her steps. Bristol, the girl whose
mother gets booed on a weekly basis
by the audience. She’s still in the running for the tacky “mirrorball” trophy.
Despite my loaded rhetoric, though,
I can’t get too worked up about her
status in the competition. She’s a cute
girl who’s obviously trying, and you
know who responds to that? Moms, the
voting bloc of Dancing with the Stars.
In this world of “mom TV,” it’s their
world, not mine. I think this season’s
finale airs during Thanksgiving break.
I’ll probably watch it with my mom in
her study.

Darren Ranck is a Heights editor. He
welcomes comments at ranckd@bc.edu.

Cinematic
underdogs

Why is it that
the American
movie-going
audience so
widely ignores
quality films?
Apart from
the obvious
(minimal promotion, tiny
Brennan Carley budgets, noname actors),
it is baffling to me that important
movies like Waiting for Superman and A Film Unfinished get
pushed aside by people in favor of
popcorn fare like this weekend’s
box-office champ, Megamind.
While not necessarily important in the same regards as the
ones mentioned above, Edgar
Wright’s criminally underappreciated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is
a daring and exciting movie that
signals a change of sorts in the
movie industry. Starring Michael
Cera in his most entertaining role
to date, the movie is an adaptation of a series of graphic novels
based around the life of a 20something Canadian named Scott
Pilgrim. The film is notable for its
creativity despite a relatively large
budget. The budget, rumored
to be around $70 million, does
not sully the creative spark that
carries the movie to exhilarating
heights. Even the score is masterful, unparalleled by any other
movie this year, save for Trent
Reznor’s work on The Social Network. However, audiences widely
ignored the film, leaving it to
gross a middling $31.5 million.
Last Saturday, Wright visited
Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre to
herald the DVD release of Pilgrim,
accompanied by a special screening and Q&A session. I found
it most interesting that Wright
refused to throw anybody under
the bus for the movie’s box-office failure. Quite careful with his
words, the director exempted the
studio, pointing out that “they
let me make the film I wanted to
make.” He continued, “That’s
why I hate deleted scenes. There’s
a reason they were cut from the
final product! I’m more than
happy with how the movie turned
out, and I think a movie cannot be
fairly judged based on the money
it makes on its opening weekend.”
His remarks regarding the box
office rang true in my ears. I think
it is common knowledge that high
gross does not necessarily make
a good movie, but why does it
seem that Americans don’t want
to reward small movies? The only
mildly successful indie film this
year was this summer’s The Kids
Are All Right, a critically lavished
movie that still only made about
$21 million. Despite unimpressive
box-office earnings, critics still
predict a strong performance at
this year’s Oscars, with nominations all but secured by Annette
Bening and Julianne Moore for
Best Actress.
Let’s face it: Oscar ratings have
been slipping because the average TV watcher has not seen (and
likely has not even heard of) the
movies that are nominated. Last
year, the nominating committee
shook things up by expanding
the Best Picture category to 10
nominees. The move was widely
seen as a response to the exclusion of Chris Nolan’s The Dark
Knight, for which Heath Ledger
was posthumously rewarded with
Best Supporting Actor, but a
Best Picture win would have told
America that Hollywood truly
embraced all kinds of movies.
This year’s win by Avatar seemed
like a concession to the average
moviegoer, a sort of “here’s one to
you guys” win.
Things could be looking up
in the months to come, though.
This time of year is generally rife
with buzz about films, and this
season is no different. Already a
success in limited release, Boston
receives Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours
starring James Franco in what
many news outlets are calling the
performance of a lifetime. The
Natalie Portman ballet-thriller
Black Swan seems poised to draw
huge crowds upon its release, and
the Colin Firth drama The King’s
Speech is sure to draw an Oscar-hungry crowd. Comedy-lovers, just keep in mind: For every
Jackass 3D there is a Scott Pilgrim
waiting to be embraced by those
savvy enough to give it love.

Brennan Carley is a staff columnist
for The Heights. He can be reached
at review@bcheights.com.

D3

THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, November 11, 2010

NEW RELEASES

+Music & notes

Cudi sequel substitutes pep for depth

BY TOM LARSSON

W

NORAH JONES
FEATURING NORAH JONES

For The Heights

ith a subtle introduction, Kid
Cudi welcomes
us to his highlyanticipated
sophomore
album, Man on the Moon, Vol. II: The
Legend of Mr. Rager. When we last saw
Cudi, he was in Conte Forum performing his (semi-failed, semi-awesome)
Fall Concert. With the exception of a
few tracks from his newest album, Cudi
had showcased many songs from his
largely successful debut album, Man
On the Moon – The End of Day. Indeed,
Man on the Moon skyrocketed Cudi
to hip-hop stardom with such hits as
“Day ‘n’ Nite,” “Pursuit of Happiness,”
and “Make Her Say.” The combination
of Kid Cudi’s raspy and spectacularly
average singing voice and his ability to
rap drew many listeners to his freshman album. Through collaborations
with Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, Shakira,
MGMT, and close friend and mentor
Kanye West, Kid Cudi quickly rose to
fame during his ﬁrst few years on the
music scene.
Kid Cudi is a unique rapper and
hip-hop artist in so many aspects. His
lyrics are not outlandishly or distinctly
motivated by politics, self-adoration,
or a haughty loyalty to his unpleasant
history, like those of many of his contemporaries. Rather, he incorporates
a certain level of sorrow or angst in a
fair number of his songs. The beauty
of the ﬁrst volume of Man on the Moon
was Kid Cudi’s balance of slower, more
gloomy-sounding tracks with a number
of fast-paced dance songs with easyto-sing choruses. The greatest ﬂaw in
Cudi’s newest album is the lack of such
up-tempo, uplifting tunes. Imagine his
freshman album without the addict-

MAN ON THE MOON, VOL. II:
THE LEGEND OF MR. RAGER
KID CUDI

JAMES BLUNT
SOME KIND OF TROUBLE

PRODUCED BY
UNIVERSAL RECORDS
OUR RATING
7/10

CHART TOPPERS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM AND COLLEGEMAGAZINE.COM

Cudi’s ‘Legend of Mr. Rager’ maintains his upbeat, energetic sound with the help of collaborations.
ing melodies of “Up Up and Away,”
“Soundtrack to My Life,” “Cud Zone,”
“Enter Galactic,” and “Make Her Say.”
Man On the Moon, Vol. II: The Legend
of Mr. Rager includes an overly heavy,
disproportionate array of songs that are
either too slow or too angry.
Of course, there is no need for every
track on the sophomore album to be a
dance or a good-mood-invoking hit.
Certainly, Cudi’s somber lyric subjects
are part of his signature sound. In
“Maniac,” Cudi supplies his deep lyrics
(“I’m in the shadows in the corners
of my room / This my new hideaway
/ This is my tomb / This is my cofﬁn / It is my place for unruliness / No
worries / I love the darkness yeah /
I’d like to marry it”), with a fast beat
and an unnerving background melody.
In the slower, more intimate track,
“All Along,” certainly a highlight of
the album, Cudi confesses “I know all
along, all along / I know I’m meant to
be alone.” “Ghost” and “Trapped In

My Mind” also feature Cudi’s unhurried, very casual singing voice with his
traditionally complex lyrics.
The little collaboration included
on The Legend of Mr. Rager is not as
particularly entertaining as that on
the The End of Day. “Scott Mescudi vs.
The World,” which features a chorus
from Cee Lo, and “Erase Me,” a single
that features a brilliantly invigorating
verse from Kanye West, are the only
two collaborations on the entire album
that reach their full potential. Both
“Don’t Play This Song” and “These
Worries” include Mary J. Blige, but only
the latter actually features a verse from
the R&B songstress. A listener should
rightly expect at least a longer display
of Blige’s talent and, in such a case
when her vocal prowess isn’t particularly showcased, he or she should question why Blige was even included in the
song. GLC, Chip tha Ripper, and Nicole
Wray worked with Kid Cudi on “The
End,” a track that ought to be skipped

because of its nothing-special collaborators and its wholly unentertaining
melody.
A number of slower songs on Man
On the Moon, Vol. II: The Legend of Mr.
Rager were quite enjoyable because they
are able to effectively manifest Cudi’s
passionate, and often forlorn, lyrics
with his coarse singing voice. However,
the addition of more up-tempo songs
(the type of songs that generally excited
the crowd the most at the Fall Concert),
would enhance Cudi’s second album
signiﬁcantly. Besides “Erase Me” and
the hypnotic “Revofev,” there are not
many tracks on Mr. Rager that induce
an uplifting, easy to follow chorus.
Obviously, the album is a must-buy
for any Kid Cudi fanatic. But for those
lukewarm followers of Cudi, I recommend searching for particular songs
that might appeal to your speciﬁc taste
(whether up-tempo or slow). Indeed,
the successes of Man On the Moon, Vol. I
were too great to repeat.

Before they were set to open for indie-rock gods Guided by Voices, Blitzen
Trapper had the stage to themselves at the
Paradise Rock Club last Thursday night.
The Portland sextet fully satisﬁed the exuberant crowd over the course of the night by
playing an array of its
popular tunes while also
casually chatting with
the audience.
After receiving a
CONCERT REVIEW:
warm reception, the
BLITZEN TRAPPER
band, which consists of
NOV. 4
three guitarists, a bassPARADISE ROCK
ist, a keyboard player,
CLUB
and a drummer, immediately got the crowd
moving by opening with
a hard-rocking song appropriately named
“Fire and Fast Bullets.” The opener set the
mood for the night, and Blitzen made sure
to keep the energy level high and the audience fully engaged.
Front man Eric Earley, who switched
periodically from lead guitar to piano while
also providing lead vocals that sounded like
a more capable Bob Dylan, kept the night
going at a methodical pace. The majority
of the set list consisted of songs from their

newest album, Destroyer of a Void. Early
in the night, Blitzen performed “Laughing Lover” and the album’s title track, two
psychedelic ballads that could have very
well been written in a tent at Woodstock.
The sextet would then regularly shoot the
energy level back up by playing such folky
classics as “Furr” and “Black River Killer,”
two numbers that launched the band onto
the indie-rock scene.
The crowd, which consisted of many hip
college students equipped in plaid ﬂannel,
and a few baby boomers remembering the
good old days, slowly ﬁlled the Dise until it
was nearly at capacity. The majority of the
audience seemed to be very familiar with
Blitzen’s catalogue, as they danced and
constantly sang along. The band appreciated the crowd’s enthusiasm and conversed
with the fans several times over the course
of the night. The Dise’s new renovations,
which give the venue a more intimate ambiance, allowed for a pleasurable viewing
experience and made conversation between
the band and the crowd easy. The band
maintained a relaxed and humorous demeanor throughout the show. At one point,
drummer Brian Adrian Koch and guitarist
Marty Marquis began singing “Walking
in Boston,” a comical rendition of Marc
Cohn’s famous Memphis ballad.
The band’s 75-minute set was crisp and

to the point. After the crowd clapped in
unison to call Blitzen back for an encore,
Marquis promptly took the reigns and
sang “Jericho,” an acoustic anthem that is
reminiscent of classic Neil Young. Blitzen
then ﬁnished off the night with the upbeat
folk tune “Big Black Bird.” As the sextet
took its ﬁnal bows, the crowd erupted in
applause and whistles of appreciation.
Boston’s own Faces on Film kicked off
the night with a set of songs from their
newly released album, Some Weather. The
band showed much potential and artistic
ability, combining ringing guitar melodies
with eerie vocals. Look for this group in the
near future as it works its way up the rungs
of the local rock scene.
Many critics say they sound too much
like the Beatles. Others say they steal their
sound from Dylan or the Eagles. But while
fans endlessly debate the band’s inﬂuences
on YouTube, many do not sufﬁciently commend Blitzen Trapper for their talent as
musicians, a skill set that kept fans hooting
and howling all night last Thursday at the
Dise. Blitzen might not use many new-age
electronic effects or poppy synthesizers,
but they will give you some good, clean
folk rock that brings you back to a simpler
time of rock n’ roll. It’s a show that can be
enjoyed by both the nostalgic baby boomer
and the budding young hipster.

SINGLES

1 We R Who We R
Ke$ha
2 Like a G6
Far*East Movement
3 Just The Way You Are
Bruno Mars
4 Only Girl (In the World)
Rihanna
5 Just a Dream
Nelly
COLLEGE ALBUMS

Roger Ebert never wrote
for the Arts & Review.
Distinguish yourself
from Roger Ebert.
Write for Arts & Review.
houseka@bc.edu

A FRAME OUT OF CARDBOARD

My ever-changing relationship with the modern city
New York was
the ﬁrst city I
ever fell in love
with. It was
easy, actually.
I was 11 years
old and the city
was everything
my hometown
in Oklahoma
wasn’t. First
KRISTIN CANFIELD
of all, one
could actually
consider it a legitimate city. Of course,
over the years my love has deepened
and matured from its original state to
include things like the Union Square
Green Market and brunch and the
Lower East Side, but it has never
faltered. For me, a windy, rainy, and
cold day in the city can be better than
a cloudless day somewhere else.
My other city loves have not always
gone so smoothly. Take Boston. I was
smitten up until the beyond-freezing and cold days of January became
the beyond-freezing and cold days of

February and then of March. You’ve
got to be kidding me. Even Vienna,
a magical place of coffee houses and
endless museums, has on occasion let
me down. A few missed trains, some
bad weather, and a strong homesickness for my friends back at school, and
I am ready to catch the next ﬂight out
of here. Recently, my response to such
a day has been to do something quintessentially Vienna, like go to the opera.
It can’t just be another cultural event.
It needs to be extraordinary enough to
shock me back into my newlywed bliss.
Luckily, the Vienna State Opera
House rarely disappoints. Especially
when performing a classic like Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterﬂy this
Monday night. I could have turned
my seat around to face the wall, and I
would have still been on the edge of my
seat for the entire, nearly three-hour
long performance. It was that good,
and it was made even better by the fact
that the only two empty seats in the
entire house were right in front of me,
offering a far better view and acoustics

than I had paid for with my eight Euro
tickets. The aria “One Beautiful Day”
brought me to tears. What can I say?
Sometimes you just get lucky.
The story of Madame Butterﬂy is
hardly one about luck. The story is set
in Nagasaki, Japan. Madame Butterﬂy,
a young Japanese girl, marries Pinkerton, an American Naval Ofﬁcer. Shortly
thereafter, Pinkerton leaves, promising to return when the robins make
their nests. What follows can only be
described as betrayal and heartache.
Butterﬂy loves Pinkerton, but for many
reasons he is unable to love her back.
Since the opera is set at the turn of the
century, Butterﬂy’s response is not to
try and catch the next plane to somewhere far away.
In all seriousness, as I was watching the opera (and thoroughly enjoying
every minute of it) I could not help but
be perturbed by the level of joy I was
gaining by watching someone else’s
pain. This is not unique to
Madame Butterﬂy or even to opera as
a genre. How many of you have fallen

PHOTO COURTESY OF VIENNA.UNLIKE.NET

in love with a song or a movie about
betrayal, broken hearts, or tragic love
long before you even felt truly such
heartbreak yourself? Anyone who has
seen Titanic or Moulin Rouge, or went
through a Third Eye Blind or Killswitch
Engage phase, is guilty of this.
When I’m abroad and feeling disenchanted, opera gives me a new perspective on my relationship to Vienna.
No matter where in the Opera House

I end up sitting or standing, I take a
few hours to watch the worst unfold in
a character’s life, and realize that my
bad day or week doesn’t even come
close. Relationships are never easy,
but if you give them a chance, they can
yield many beautiful days to come.

Kristin Canﬁeld is a Heights contributor.
She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

D4

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

D5

+Fashion & Food
Chronicles of Campus Fashion

Championing antiques

S

KK: How would you describe your
personal style?
LK: My Southern grandmother
meets the East Village.
KK: What are you earliest memories

By Kailey kramer | For The Heights

eeing as the topic of last week’s article touched on the art of vintage-chic,
it only made sense to do a follow-up with an antique enthusiast. Recently
returned from London, Liz Kulze, A&S ’11, can be spotted around campus
on any given afternoon sporting some lovely token of the past. Once again,
evidence that your new favorite shirt or necklace may indeed be buried in
the back of your grandmother’s closet. Liz was kind enough to share some
of the inspiration behind her day-to-day wardrobe with me - and now you.

of fashion?
LK: I grew up raiding antique stores
with my mom on weekends, and
would try on fur coats and broaches
and Victorian heels and Art Deco
jewelry for hours. A lot of my favorite
pieces have come from those experiences. I am definitely of the mantra,
“They just don’t make things like
they used to,” and believe that there
is a special quality to things that
have been cherished by someone
else. My favorite locket has the initials MCH. Mine are AELK.

LK: One vintage ’70s dress, another
vintage ’80s dress that I acquired
after playing dress up at a friends
house when I was seven and accidentally wore it home, and most of all,

KK: How did growing up in Charleston, SC, impact your current style?
LK: In a counteractive way. Charleston is very preppy. Seersucker,
Martha’s Vineyard, and boat shoes
abound, so I loved shocking people
by throwing something different into
the monolith. I wore a pink, faux fur
collar, fishnet tights, and oversized
pearls to my first day of high school.
KK: How has your style evolved over
the years?
LK: Certainly, but to be honest I still
want to wear overalls everyday like I
did in third grade. I would say I take
risks a lot more, though.

Liz bundles up in a vintage camel wool
jacket with fur collar and scarf.

my pair of buffalo leather
Kailey kramer / for the heights
ankle boots that have
Kulze pairs layered socks, tights and boots with a
trekked seven countries
sleeveless pocketed dress and bone-colored beads.
and are quickly reaching
ticular?
their last days (I plan to
LK: A vintage fringe leather jacket
put them on the mantle in my first
and multiple pairs of boots from the
house).
Tannery.
KK: Would you say your style
KK: Do you have any style icons?
evolved or changed after going
Any particular sources of inspiraabroad to London?
tion?
LK: East Enders dress like they just
LK: My grandmother. Bridget
walked out of a fashion house. Just
Bardot. Lauren Hutton. Francoise
wild. Lots of holes and leather and
Hardy. Bonnie and Clyde. The Great
leopard, but also a lot of modernGatsby. Greenwich Village in the
ized, old fashioned British coun’70s. Western Outlaws.
tryside prep. I definitely got a little
edgier, and for some reason started
KK: Favorite local shops?
parting my hair in the middle.
LK: H&M and Madewell — we don’t
have them at home.
KK: Favorite places to shop there?
Did you bring back any particularly
KK: Favorite shops at home?
memorable pieces?
LK: Grandmama’s hand-me-downs!
LK: London is the BEST place to
vintage shop in the entire world. I
raided the markets there every week- KK: Favorite brands? Designers?
end, namely Portobello Road and the LK: I’m really not too big on either,
but chances are if it’s vintage I like
Sunday Up Market. I miraculously
it. Although I am a fan of Chloe’s
bargained down a Fox Fur Coat
new “Western Prep” collection.
with Turquoise shell buttons for 45
pounds. I was too exchange rate-inhibited to buy much else.
Kailey Kramer is a Heights contributor.
She can be reached for comment at arts@
KK: What’s on your current wish
bcheights.com.
list? Lusting after anything in par-

Eat ’Dis Union Street Bar AND gRILL

on The Session

Rachel gregorio / Heights Photo Illustration

Why we pregame our lives
photo courtesy of unionst.com

By Michael Matosic
& Mary Kate McDonnell

(not to mention the olive oil and balsamic reductions that are waiting for the rolls to swan dive right
For The Heights
into). We continue with the theme of excessively
high calorie dishes, as our main courses included
Do you find yourself considering what delec- the Signature Southwestern Burger and the Truffle
table take-out food you can have for dinner, even Mac & Cheese.
though you are currently in a food coma from your
For all my fellow beef-enthusiasts, the burgdelicious tuna delight sandwich with fripps and ers here never fail to amaze, the perfect balance
a pickle and a warmed-up chocolate chip cookie of juiciness and a wide variety of toppings, and
from Hillside?
some are even a little wacky, like the “Maui,” which
Well lucky for you, two of your favorite glut- dabbles in putting teriyaki and pineapple in on
tons, Mary Kate McDonnell, A&S ’11, and Michael its burger. (Skeptics, don’t fear. I can attest to its
Matosic, CSOM ’11, have teamed up to explore the deliciousness). The subtle but never compromisfood hot-spots that will satisfy all the alimentary ing partner to the burgers are the fries, specifically
needs we Boston College students have. In “Eat the waffle fries. Their extra surface area not only
’Dis,” we will recommend some of our favorite gives you more satisfaction in every bite, but also
restaurants, (take my order ’cause your body like a) maximizes the crunchiness factor, which we all
carry-outs, bakeries, or any establishment that is know is key.
part of the magical business of food creation.
The Truffle Mac & Cheese, steaming upon arGiving in to the nostalgia of living on Newton rival, was a combination of buttery breadcrumbs
Campus freshman year, we chose the humble but on top of the rich perfection of truffle and array
spectacular Union Street in Newton Centre as our of cheeses that coated the macaroni noodles.
first victim. The main level has a swanky bar for The final chapter of our meal came in the form of
many young professionals to congregate around our Snookie Snack, or in common language, the
come 5 p.m. There is also a plush downstairs area Deep-fried Snickers. Coming full circle with our
reserved just for those who wish to dine with T.V.’s affinity for deep fried food, the Snickers offered a
in all lines of vision, so there is no bad seat at the salty-sweet flavor and crunchy-soft texture that
table. Looking at the menu stirs up excitement, ended our meal perfectly.
but also painful indecision, as so many dishes
So if you’re in the mood for some straight-up
resonate with our grumbling stomachs. With items Americano with a twist, get yourself walking (or
ranging from “Pistachio Encrusted Tuna Salad” taking a cab, like we did) to Union Street. They have
to the “Ultimate Nachos,” everyone from yuppies some fun ethnic dishes, but for the more conservato Broston College students will enjoy all Union tive cats, they will find safe haven in the “chicken
Street has to offer.
parm,” “caesar salad,” “chicken pot pie,” and of
Our meal started off with a rookie on the menu, course the wings, any way you want them. This
the “Italian Egg Rolls.” This lovechild of P.F. does receive a PA (Plex Alert) rating and is not for
Chang’s and Olive Garden came out of left field as the gastronomically faint of heart, but for all of you
a surprise winner. The crunchy egg
out there looking for a change
Union Street Bar and Grill
roll exterior was perfectly compleof pace from Lower’s pre-made
107 Rear Union St.
mented by the prosciutto, mozsandwiches (complete with dyNewton, MA
zarella, fresh basil, and roasted
ing lettuce) and an even better
Price: $10-$20
red peppers, making it a perfect
burger than Hillside, test the
Health Status: Plex alert
appetizer for two to three people
waters at Union Street.

Now is the time of year powerhungry resident assistants
savor. When it freezes, just as
the bear burrows into his cave
with all his food, the student
scavenges for all the booze he
can find and nestles into the
cocoon of campus. On The
Session takes you across the
city, but in light of this snap
of cold weather, let’s address
Zak Jason
a ritual students practice every
week in their dorms: pregaming.
The term “pregaming” originated in football,
as another word for tailgating. Fans grill and drink
prior to the game, hence pregaming. Somewhere
along the line, humans decided to “pregame” other sporting events – baseball, soccer, high school
girls’ volleyball. Eventually, the term spread to
college. With the loaded moniker “pregaming,”
socializing before an event at college has become
a full-fledged, often hardcore procedure. At Boston College, pregaming is the closest ceremony we
have to fraternity drinking games.
By and large, we pregame for one of the following three rationales.
(1) You view the event you’re about to attend as
too lame to enjoy sans alcohol. For example, “This
Fall Concert / football game / Fulton Debating
Society debate / floor meeting / disciplinary
hearing / midterm is going to suck. We better
pregame hard beforehand.”
(2) People you have subpar relations with
also plan to attend the event you will attend. To
allay an awkward interaction, you conclude you
must guzzle copious amounts of alcohol prior.
For example, “Oh no, that girl I tried to hook up
with on Kairos says she’s going to that Dress as
Your Favorite Office Supply party. We have to
pregame that.”
(3) The event you plan to attend starts later
than you would like to start consuming alcohol.
For example, on the day of the Boston Marathon,
you may hear, “You know the elite runners don’t
come until 9 in the morning? Let’s start pregam-

ing at 7.”
Sure, you also pregame for more laudable
reasons. You may just want to celebrate the
beginning of the weekend with your roommates
before you veer off to your respective parties. But
for the most part, students pregame under the
notion that you can’t enjoy yourselves as much
at an event without diluting your bloodstreams
with alcohol.
Oftentimes, students treat pregaming like they
treat the flu, by administering a specific amount
of liquid to feel better. Let’s pregame with a 12pack of Magic Hat Seasonal. Let’s drain this 30.
Let’s duct tape a 40 oz. bottle of malt liquor to
each of our hands and drink both before we can
urinate. That seems like the most rational way of
starting the night. Last year, one of my roommates
established a makeshift pregaming clock feature
on his Blackberry. Every five minutes, his phone
would buzz, alerting him to take another shot.
Pregaming is clinical.
Are there alternatives?
I’m not saying you should spend your early
evenings attending Nights on the Heights events
or title-defending hockey games or basketball
games or on-campus comedy shows (like Hello,
Shovelhead!, performing this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. in Fulton 511) or
theater productions (like She Stoops to Conquer
in Robsham Theater from Nov. 18-21) or student
art exhibits (like the Home exhibit opening in the
O’Connell House Nov. 20) or culture shows or
dance performances (like Boston College Dance
Ensemble’s performance next month in Robsham). What’s the fun in supporting your fellow
students when you have cans of blue raspberry
Four Loko waiting for you in the fridge?
At this point, pregaming has become too ubiquitous to evaporate. That’s fine. But from time to
time, going out to see your friends perform before
you party might just help you start your night.

Zak Jason is a Heights editor. He can be reached
at arts@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Thursday, November 11, 2010

D6

celebrity connections
i’ll bet you never considered how close to meryl
streep you are on the celebrity food chain simply by going to bc. here’s your opportunity.

I

s it true that Justin Timberlake lived in Vanderslice his sophomore
year? Did Kim Kardashian really major in perspectives and write
a senior honors thesis with Fr. McGowan? Did Cameron Diaz
dance in Fuego del Corazon? No. But they all have connections
to Boston College. We hired a team of analysts to somehow draw today’s most topical celebrities back to
the Heights. In many cases, they could achieve the
chestnut
feat in less than six steps. Enjoy the fruits of
hill is a
their labor with this graphic. Afterward,
subset of
see if you and your friends can
newton,
draw connections between
where john
BC and even bigger
krasinski
celebrities.
grew up

emily blunt’s
breakout role
was in ‘the
devil wears
prada’

president
obama spoke at
bc convocation
and was named
‘time magazine’s’
person of the
year in 2008

John Krasinski is
married
to Emily
blunt
J.K. Rowling
was also
named person
of the year by
‘time magazine’
in 2007

Meryl streep
stars in ‘the
devil wear’s
prada’

Emma watson
stars as hermione

she attends brown university,
where norah of ‘nick and norah’
goes to college.

ben folds, who
performed for
the 2009 Spring
concert, was on
chatroulette
& so was
ashton

Ann patchett
spoke at bc
convocation.
she also wrote
for ‘17
magazine’

Both these
men Modeled
for calvin
klein

ke$ha is ‘17
magazine’s’
cover girl this
month. ke$ha’s
family was also
featured on ‘the
simple life’

Michael cera
stars in ‘nick
and norah’

Ken Burns, who
spoke at commencement in 2009, was
interviewed By
Stephen Colbert

who spoke
at the white
house correspondents
dinner before
george bush

david beckham’s
son is named romeo
who owned
the Texas
Rangers, the
team Alex
Rodriguez
began his
career on